SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) | Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) | Ministry of Finance
At the 56th World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, India’s participation is characterized by a fundamental shift in narrative—moving from a country selling “potential” to one asserting its role as a “global growth anchor.” With the IMF projecting a 7.3% growth for 2026, the Indian delegation, led by four Union Ministers, highlighted a decade of execution-led reforms that have lifted 250 million people out of poverty and simplified governance by removing 35,000 compliances.
The Five-Layer AI Strategy
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw asserted that India is firmly in the “first bouquet” of AI nations, specifically focusing on large-scale diffusion and Return on Investment (ROI) over sheer model size.
Full Stack Advantage: India is actively building capabilities across all five layers of the AI ecosystem: Applications, Models, Chips, Infrastructure, and Energy.
Model Efficiency: Nearly 95% of enterprise use cases can be addressed by models in the 20–50 billion parameter range. India is developing a “bouquet” of 12 focused AI models to deliver affordable services to its large population.
Democratizing Compute: To address GPU scarcity, the government has empanelled 38,000 GPUs as a shared national facility, accessible to startups and researchers at one-third the global cost.
Sustainability and Energy Transition at Scale
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi underscored that India’s energy transition is a strategic economic transformation rather than just a technological shift.
Investment Readiness: India was pitched as one of the world’s fastest-growing renewable energy markets, backed by emerging frameworks in Geothermal and Nuclear energy (supported by the opening of the nuclear sector to private participation).
Indigenous Manufacturing: Production from four high-tech indigenous chip units is slated to begin this year, signaling the convergence of the Semiconductor and Green Energy missions.
Global Trust: The India Pavilion showcased policy stability and the transition from being a supply-chain participant to a trusted “value-chain partner” in manufacturing and design.
Policy Relevance
The outcomes from Davos 2026 validate India’s transition into a high-tech manufacturing and digital services powerhouse, providing a blueprint for the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.
Digital Sovereignty: The focus on building a Full Sovereign AI Stack ensures that India’s digital economy remains resilient against global resource restrictions or model “switch-offs.”
Economic Multiplier: The India–AI Impact Summit (scheduled for February 2026) will be the first of its kind in the Global South, aiming to convert global dialogue into tangible multiplier effects for health, agriculture, and urban mobility.
Export Resilience: By emerging as a “trusted value-chain partner,” India is building a buffer against global trade shocks and tariff turmoil, with electronics already rising to become its third-largest export category.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How can India institutionalize its “techno-legal” AI safeguards at the state level to ensure that the diffusion of AI-driven governance is both inclusive and secure?
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