SDG 1: No Poverty | SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
Institutions: NITI Aayog | Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Placing India’s 490 million informal workers at the centre of the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, NITI Aayog’s Roadmap on AI for Inclusive Societal Development (October 2025) outlines how frontier technologies can drive equitable growth and digital empowerment. The six-part document builds from problem diagnosis to actionable frameworks and governance mechanisms aimed at translating technological potential into social inclusion.
The roadmap identifies five systemic barriers — financial fragility, limited market access, skills mismatch, weak social protection, and persistently low productivity (averaging US $5/hour) — as the main causes of informal workers’ exclusion from India’s growth story. It warns that delayed AI adoption could further marginalize this segment, risking their exclusion from the digital economy.
To counter this, the report charts a Vision 2035 anchored in AI, blockchain, and immersive learning, proposing the creation of tamper-proof Verifiable Credentials for trusted identities and Smart Contracts for automated, secure payments. These technologies, integrated through a “trust infrastructure”, are envisioned to make welfare delivery, skill certification, and employment linkages transparent and portable.
Its central policy recommendation is the launch of a National Mission: Digital Shram Setu, designed to transform India’s informal workforce into a formal, future-ready labour force. The mission targets universal social security coverage and aims to raise worker productivity nearly tenfold to US $49/hour by 2047. It proposes an Apex Governing Body chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister to ensure cross-ministerial alignment and coordinated implementation across states.
The roadmap advances India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) framework into the AI era, building on the National Strategy for AI (2018) while linking technology development with social justice. It positions inclusivity as a design principle — ensuring that India’s AI systems become instruments of empowerment, not exclusion.
Follow the full report here: NITI Aayog – Roadmap on AI for Inclusive Societal Development (PDF)