Budget 2026: India's AI Future Needs National Strategy, Funding

• India needs a comprehensive national AI strategy to leverage its talent and data, positioning itself as a global AI leader.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should consider announcing this strategy in Union Budget 2026 to drive innovation and economic growth.
• Key initiatives include building an "India Stack of AI" for open, interoperable datasets and APIs, similar to Aadhaar and UPI.
• Funding ambitious "moonshot projects" focused on India-specific challenges like personalized education, precision agriculture, and remote healthcare diagnostics is crucial.
• Developing shared infrastructure, including high-performance computing clusters and specialized AI hardware, will lower barriers to AI innovation.

Why It Matters: A national AI strategy, robust funding, and shared infrastructure are vital for India to lead the global AI revolution.