SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities | SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) | AI Governance Group (AIGG) | Technology & Policy Expert Committee (TPEC) | AI Safety Institute
India has adopted a principle-based framework anchored in “Seven Sutras” to enable safe, trusted, and inclusive AI innovation. Releasing during the AI Impact Summit 2026, the guidelines move toward a whole-of-government model by establishing new national institutions such as the AI Governance Group (AIGG) and the AI Safety Institute. The framework prioritizes “Innovation over Restraint,” positioning AI as a defining force for the Fifth Industrial Revolution and a primary catalyst for the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. Under the IndiaAI Mission, the government has already onboarded over 38,000 GPUs and hosts 9,500+ datasets through AIKosh to strengthen indigenous model development. By focusing on “AI for All,” the guidelines seek to ensure that AI benefits are diffused across agriculture, healthcare, and governance rather than being concentrated in a few firms.
Key Pillars of India’s AI Governance Framework
The Seven Sutras: Anchoring AI development in core principles: People First, Trust, Innovation over Restraint, Fairness and Equity, Accountability, Understandable by Design, and Safety & Sustainability.
Institutional Architecture: Establishing the AIGG for inter-ministerial coordination, the TPEC for technical standards, and an AI Safety Institute for risk assessment and safety testing.
Indigenous Infrastructure (AIKosh): Supporting sovereignty through a national compute facility and a central repository of 273 sectoral models and evaluation datasets.
Grassroots Capacity Building: Expanding a network of 570 AI Data Labs across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and integrating AI-linked curricula under the National Education Policy 2020.
Techno-Legal Risk Mitigation: Promoting the use of algorithmic auditing, privacy-enhancing technologies, and a national AI incidents database to address emerging risks like deepfakes.
The AI Governance Action Plan
The Committee has recommended a phased implementation strategy to ensure that the governance framework remains timely and future-ready as AI capabilities evolve.
Short-Term (Immediate): Establishing key governance institutions, including the AI Governance Group (AIGG) and the Technology & Policy Expert Committee (TPEC), while developing India-specific AI risk assessment and classification frameworks.
Medium-Term: Publishing common standards for content authentication, data integrity, and fairness, alongside the operationalization of a National AI Incidents Database with localized feedback loops.
Long-Term: Continuous monitoring of the governance activities and the adoption of new laws to account for highly autonomous systems and emerging risks.
What are the “Seven Sutras”? The Seven Sutras are the foundational principles that ground India’s AI governance philosophy, designed to ensure that technological progress aligns with societal values. These principles include: 1. Trust as the Foundation, 2. People First (human agency), 3. Innovation over Restraint (prioritizing growth), 4. Fairness and Equity (avoiding bias), 5. Accountability (visible responsibility), 6. Understandable by Design (transparent explanations), and 7. Safety, Resilience, and Sustainability (robust safeguards). Together, they provide a flexible, future-ready framework that encourages responsible adoption at scale across diverse sectors like healthcare and manufacturing
Policy Relevance
The 2026 Guidelines represent a transition from “Ad-hoc Regulation” to “Institutionalized Sovereignty,” ensuring that India’s 2 lakh startups can innovate within a predictable and trusted legal landscape.
Strategic Impact:
Scaling Trusted Innovation: By adopting “Innovation over Restraint,” India leverages its 2.5x global AI skill penetration to lead in deployment-first AI applications.
Enabling MSME Competitiveness: Access to AIKosh’s 9,500 datasets helps the 63 million MSMEs reduce the 10-18% cost disadvantage by integrating AI-driven efficiency.
Strengthening Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Integrating AI with existing DPI (like UPI and Aadhaar) creates a “Trust Architecture” for the secure, scalable delivery of AI-powered healthcare.
Securing Global Leadership in Ethics: Establishing the AI Safety Institute allows India to lead the “Global South” discourse on culturally representative and responsible AI.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How should the 'Innovation over Restraint' principle be operationalized to ensure that 'First-Mover' advantages for Indian startups are not compromised by the compliance costs of the seven Sutras?
Follow the full news here: India AI Governance Guidelines 2026