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 identifies five systemic barriers—financial fragility, limited market access, skills mismatch, weak social protection, and persistently low productivity (currently averaging US $5/hour)—as the main causes of this segment’s exclusion from India’s growth story. The roadmap 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. The central policy recommendation is the launch of a National Mission: Digital ShramSetu, 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.
The technological transformation is built on three core mechanisms:
Establishing Trust and Financial Inclusion: The blueprint proposes the creation of tamper-proof Verifiable Credentials (VCs) 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.
Bridging Access and Skilling Gaps: To overcome literacy and language barriers, the roadmap calls for deploying vernacular AI assistants (LLMs) and context-aware smart interfaces to make government services universally accessible. For skilling, it advocates for immersive AR/VR training and implementing AI tutors within adaptive learning systems to personalize skill pathways.
Governance and Productivity: The mission proposes an Apex Governing Body to ensure cross-ministerial alignment and coordinated implementation across states. Productivity enhancements include using AI-augmented visual diagnostics for tradesmen and deploying affordable micro-robotics for hazardous or repetitive tasks in agriculture and industry.
Follow the full report here: NITI Aayog – Roadmap on AI for Inclusive Societal Development (PDF)