ET Soonicorns Summit 2025: Forging a digital India for a billion people with AI for Bharat
Empower your mind, elevate your skills
Sumanth Naropanth - CEO, Deep Armor and Gauntlet
- CEO, Deep Armor and Gauntlet Jai Asundi - Executive Director, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP)
- Executive Director, Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) Adarsh Natarajan - CEO, Aindra (AI-powered medtech)
- CEO, Aindra (AI-powered medtech) Abhinav Aggarwal - Founder & CEO, Fluid AI
- Founder & CEO, Fluid AI Ankit Bose - Head, Nasscom AI
- Head, Nasscom AI Jyotsna Jayaram - Partner, Trilegal
The strategic roadmap for building a sovereign AI infrastructure powered by localised data centers.
How startups can effectively develop AI solutions that cater to India's vast linguistic and cultural diversity.
The crucial interplay between government policy, private investment, and regulatory frameworks in scaling India's AI capabilities.
Real-world case studies of 'AI for Bharat' in critical sectors like healthcare and finance.
Actionable strategies for bridging the digital divide to ensure an inclusive AI-driven future for all Indians.
As India solidifies its position as a global technology powerhouse, a crucial question is taking centre stage: How can the nation build artificial intelligence (AI) that serves its uniquely diverse population? The upcoming ET Soonicorns Summit 2025 will address this question head-on in a pivotal session titled, 'AI for Bharat: How Localised Data Centres Can Bridge the Digital Divide with Indian Solutions.'The conversation will move beyond generic AI discourse to address the foundational elements required to create AI solutions for India's diverse cultural and linguistic landscape. This includes a deep dive into the critical role of localised data centres—the engine of the AI revolution. The session will bring together some of the leading minds from the startup ecosystem, policy research, and legal sectors to explore India's path forward.India's digital economy is expanding rapidly and is projected to contribute nearly a fifth of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 . Fuelling this growth is the swift adoption of AI, with India's Generative (Gen) AI market expected to surge from approximately USD 1.1 billion in 2025 to USD 6.4 billion by 2030 . To truly harness this potential for every citizen, developing 'AI for Bharat' is not just an opportunity but a necessity. This means creating AI solutions that understand and cater to India's multitude of languages and cultural nuances, a task that requires massive, localised datasets and the infrastructure to process them.This is where the significance of local data centres becomes paramount. Spurred by the demands of AI and cloud service providers, India's data centre capacity is projected to surge by 77% to 1.8 GW by 2027 . The Indian government is actively fostering this growth with initiatives such as the IndiaAI mission, which aims to bolster the country's AI ecosystem. Yet, a formidable challenge remains: bridging the persistent digital divide. In 2024, rural India had 488 million internet users, significantly more than the urban user base. However, disparities in consistent access and digital literacy persist.Leading the charge in securing the very infrastructure that will power 'AI for Bharat' is Sumanth Naropanth, CEO of Deep Armor and Gauntlet. Gauntlet provides an AI-powered platform for comprehensive cloud and AI security monitoring. Naropanth's expertise is critical in a landscape where the security of data centres and AI models is non-negotiable for building trust and ensuring the integrity of India's digital future. His work addresses the foundational need for robust security as India scales its AI capabilities.Jai Asundi, the Executive Director of the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), brings a crucial policy and research perspective to the discussion. CSTEP is a leading think tank that enriches policymaking with innovative approaches, and Asundi has been instrumental in establishing 'AI for social impact' as a key area of work. His insights will be vital in understanding how policy can guide the development of AI and data centre infrastructure to ensure it leads to inclusive and sustainable development for all of India.From the frontlines of applying AI to solve uniquely Indian challenges comes Adarsh Natarajan, the founder and CEO of Aindra Systems. Aindra is a pioneering medtech startup that leverages AI-powered computer vision for the early detection of cervical cancer, particularly in low-resource settings. Natarajan's journey with Aindra, which he founded after his MBA from IIM Bangalore, exemplifies the potential of deep tech to address critical societal needs. His experience will shed light on the practicalities and impact of building AI solutions for the Indian context.A visionary in the conversational AI space, Abhinav Aggarwal, the Co-founder and CEO of Fluid AI, will offer a glimpse into the future of human-AI interaction in India. Fluid AI provides a generative AI platform that automates customer support and employee assistance, showcasing the potential to enhance service delivery and efficiency. A self-taught coder who dropped out of a prestigious MBA programme to build his company, Aggarwal's story underscores the passion and innovation driving India's AI startup ecosystem.Representing the voice of the Indian IT industry is Ankit Bose, Head of Nasscom AI. His perspective will be crucial in understanding broader industry trends and the collective action needed to realise the 'AI for Bharat' vision.Providing the essential legal and regulatory framework for this technological revolution is Jyotsna Jayaram, a Partner at the law firm Trilegal. As AI and data localisation become increasingly intertwined with policy, her expertise in advising domestic and international clients on data protection, privacy, and cybersecurity will be invaluable in navigating the complex legal landscape.With this diverse expertise on stage, the session is poised to tackle the central questions holding the key to India's AI future. How does India balance the race for data centre supremacy with the non-negotiable needs for data security and privacy? As the government rolls out ambitious policies like the IndiaAI Mission, how can startups and think tanks ensure these initiatives translate into tangible impact on the ground, truly bridging the digital divide rather than widening it?The discussion will move from the theoretical to the practical. What does it take to build an AI model that works not just in a lab but in a low-resource rural clinic? How can generative AI be adapted to serve a multilingual population with varying levels of digital literacy? This panel will explore the friction and synergy between policy, technology, security, and law, providing a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities in building an AI ecosystem for a billion people.This session will cut through the hype to provide a grounded, forward-looking perspective. Attendees can expect to gain a clear understanding of:This session will provide a nuanced look at the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in creating a truly digital Bharat.360 One is the presenting partner of the ET Soonicorns Summit 2025.(This article is generated and published by the ET Spotlight team. You can get in touch with them at etspotlight@timesinternet.in .)
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