Can India be the Next AI Superpower?

Nov 6, 2020

New Delhi: India, which has a robust IT ecosystem and was on way to digital transformation, can become next Artificial Intelleigence (AI) superpower country in the near future, a number of veteran techs think.

‘”India can certainly become the next AI superpower through zealous innovation and consistent R&D in the technology front. Indian companies and AI-entrepreneurs must start investing more on research and creating India-origin AI products and solutions. India is already an IT powerhouse hence there is already a conducive environment for AI to flourish here,” says Nikhil Korgaonkar, Regional Director at Arcserve India.

The Indian startup sector has already witnessed tremendous upscaling and notable collaborations with global tech giants. Indian entrepreneurs today, have a better understanding of business models and are well-informed about the technologies that are in play, he says.

Indian startups today are applying AI to create solutions for verticals like BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, retail etc. and also for others like agriculture, fisheries, marine resources, water management, alternative medicines, safety and empowerment of women, which were earlier unexplored, Korgaonkar said.

Sandesh Goel, Managing Director at Eightfold.ai India is of the view that in AI and machine learning, the value of data is of paramount importance. To reap the best results out of any AI-based solution, it requires a mega volume of diverse data to feed the algorithms. AI and tech solution providers in India are at an advantage here given that India is a country of diversity and with being the second largest online market in the world, with mega volumes of data constantly generated within India.

Therefore, he says, if companies in India promote local innovation and emphasise on India-based AI solutions, it will aid the country to become an emerging AI superpower. Additionally, India already has adequate IT resources and knowledge stock, and it has been the IT facilitation centre for the world. In ten years down the road, AI is poised to be a $15.7 trillion economy. It is already promising to add $957 billion to India’s economy by 2035″

Ritesh Deokar, Country Manager at Milestone Systems India says “AI is widely discussed in security in recent times, and it is welcoming to observe that the Indian government and think tank agencies like NITI Ayog have given imminent priority to the technology’s promotion in the country. While AI is not a new concept, it has become more mature than before thanks to more advanced AI and deep learning-based algorithms, stronger processing power and wider availability of data. On an open platform VMS, different analytic solutions, including AI can be integrated so users can tailor-make solutions to their needs and pain points. Today, AI is being incorporated into video management and security solution technologies, to enhance accuracy and intelligence; resulting in the prevention of accidents and curbing security threats.”

Vikas Bhonsle, CEO at Crayon India thinks India is already an IT-resource surplus nation. Back in 2018-19, in its National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence India by NITI Aayog, the commission has laid its holistic plan and roadmap on AI integration and promotion . Over the past decade, digital transformation was already changing and re-inventing the way organizations conduct business. With the current pandemic, the process got catapulted further and is slowly becoming a foundational transformation in how an organization delivers value to its customers. AI here, will act as the game changer.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has reached new heights. The mix of the innovation, information, and talent that make intelligent frameworks possible has arrived at a critical stage, driving phenomenal development in AI investment. The time of AI has arrived. Established organizations are now moving past experimentation. Money is flowing into AI advances and applications at large organizations.

To boost its AI abilities, as a country India must equip both an innovative private segment and a strong supportive policy and administrative structure-seeking after a reasonable way to deal with AI enhancement across stakeholders, he said.

Satish Kumar V, CEO at EverestIMS Technologies also sees India having definitely the potential and capability to rise up and transform itself into an AI superpower. In fact, it is in a unique position as its vast workforce has many pools that possess deep expertise and knowledge of AI development in the private sectors. What is need is to ramp up on is mainly the hardware. Most of the supercomputers that help power AI are in the west and China. However, NITI Aayog has proposed the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence and has submitted a cabinet note requesting the Government of India to allocate around Rs. 7,500 crores towards these efforts. Prime and most significant amongst these would be AIRAWAT – a national cloud computing platform which will provide the aforementioned computing capability need. The funds would also go towards setting up 5 Centres of Research and 20 International Centres for Transformational AI. With around 400 start-ups working on AI and machine learning, we feel that India is poised to take up the reins to become a superpower, albeit perhaps even breaking new ground.

”Imagine if we could apply these capability sets to agriculture, medicine and infrastructure – the outcomes could be nationwide game-changers for development. We look forward with eagerness and hope to play some small role in this forthcoming revolution”, he said.

Prashanth G J, CEO at TechnoBind says, “India is right now at the cusp of the AI revolution and its impact taking off. One can look at the leadership in AI from two perspectives – one from the technology and innovation and the other from the impact on the country and its people. India the latter will be the driving force leading to much higher implementation of AI also backed by innovation in the technology related to AI as well.

Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director at Arrow PC Network Pvt Ltd (Titanium Partner – Dell Technologies) says , “Many Indian states are planning to frame state cybersecurity policies hand-in-hand with the national cybersecurity policy. AI has a huge potential in changing the Indian education sector with changing the learning process, helping students choose the right career path by analyzing the data and coming up with a global level curriculum. Apart from this, there is a huge scope for AI in terms of security measures like face recognition, crime detection, video and image analysis, behavior analysis, predicting crowd and crime patterns. AI can also be used to analyze and map out the economic growth factors and measures to be taken to aid economic growth.

Shibu Paul, Vice President-International at Array Networks is of the view that the Indian Artificial Intelligence sector which is still considered as evolving can certainly ace the test with a little more push towards imbibing the technology in our day-to-day lives. Chatbots on various online and social media platforms, a push towards augmented reality fueled by AI enabling an easier learning process and opportunity for developing healthcare, processing data crops for agriculture and managing an adept supply chain schedule and route are all a result of AI.

He pointed out how Japan was making great strides in the field. ”Japan is hurtling in the field of AI especially in its care robots sector where AI-powered robots take care and be a companion for the senior citizen. Apart from this, AI can also help India in its manufacturing sector by not just improving productivity but also by making forecasts about the market. It’s not just self-driving cars or self-functioning street lights, it also includes unlocking the complete potential to establish smart cities across India. It includes state-of-the-art healthcare systems and security options. ”

–INDIA NEWS STREAM