Parliament Question: Enactment of AI policy framework

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2469

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 13.03.2026 ENACTMENT OF AI POLICY FRAMEWORK

2469. SHRI RAJEEV SHUKLA:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Ministry is aware that the urgent need of the hour is to enact a concrete Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy framework;

(b) if so, whether any action has been taken in this regard;

(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(d) whether the Ministry has initiated any consultation with the stakeholders in this regard; and

(e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (e): India’s AI Policy framework is based on Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of democratising the development and usage of technology. The focus is using Artificial Intelligence

(AI) for solving real-world problems and ultimately improving lives across various sectors.

To achieve this, Government of India has taken a balanced and pragmatic techno-legal approach towards its regulation. India’s AI strategy has been shaped after studying global regulatory frameworks and undertaking extensive stakeholder consultations.

India’s Strategic Vision for AI Leadership:

To translate this vision into action, the Government approved the IndiaAI Mission in March 2024. It is designed as a national-level effort to build a comprehensive, inclusive, and sustainable AI ecosystem.

Seven pillars of AI mission are as follows:

1) IndiaAI Compute Capacity: It aims to provide high-end compute power (GPUs) to all, including MSMEs and startups, at an affordable cost.

2) IndiaAI Foundation Models: To develop India’s own Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on Indian datasets and languages. This is to ensure sovereign capability and global competitiveness in generative AI.

3) AIKosh: To develop large datasets for training AI models. AIKosh is a unified data platform integrating datasets from government and non-government sources.

4) IndiaAI Application Development Initiative: This pillar aims to develop AI applications for India specific challenges in sectors such as climate change and disaster management, healthcare, agriculture, governance, and assistive technologies for learning disabilities.5) IndiaAI FutureSkills: To develop AI skilled professionals in India by increasing the number of graduates, post-graduate and PhDs in AI domain. It also envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India.

6) IndiaAI Startup Financing: To provide financial assistance to AI start-ups.

7) Safe & Trusted AI: To balance innovation with strong governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI adoption.

M.A.N.A.V Vision Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi presented India’s M.A.N.A.V. vision for AI at the AI Impact Summit. It presents a roadmap where technological advancement progresses in harmony with

societal values: Moral and Ethical Systems, Accountable Governance, National Sovereignty, Accessible and Inclusive AI, and Valid and Legitimate Systems.

The AI Impact Summit concluded with the Summit Declaration, endorsed by 92 countries and international organisations, affirming collective commitment to trusted, inclusive, democratic, and human-centric AI norms.

Advisory Group on AI To support the development of a responsible AI framework suited to India’s needs, the Government constituted an Advisory Group on AI under the chairmanship of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister.

The group includes representatives from academia, industry and government. The Advisory Group was tasked with developing recommendations for a safe and trusted AI ecosystem. A report on AI Governance Guidelines was finalised after reviewing existing and proposed laws and regulatory guidelines.

The report highlights the need for a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to ensure effective compliance and enforcement as the AI ecosystem evolves. Given the rapidly changing nature of AI technologies, the report recommends a techno-legal approach to governance.

A public consultation on the draft report was subsequently conducted.

India AI Governance Guidelines The India AI Governance Guidelines was released on 5 November 2025. It provides a comprehensive national framework to ensure the safe, responsible, and inclusive development and deployment of Artificial Intelligence in the country.

The guidelines emphasise human-centric AI development and provide a comprehensive governance framework.

The Guidelines recognise that AI is a major driver of economic growth and social change. At the same time, it can also pose risks to individuals and society. Some of these include bias, discrimination, misinformation, deepfakes, unfair outcomes, exclusion and lack of transparency.The guidelines seeks to foster innovation while mitigating risks to individuals and society, and promotes accessibility, affordability and inclusiveness in AI adoption.

The Guidelines state that sectoral regulators will remain responsible for enforcement and oversight within their legal mandate.

The Guidelines do not introduce new statutory mechanisms such as independent audits, appeals, or new oversight bodies. Instead, the Guidelines rely on existing laws. These include the Information Technology Act, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and sector-specific regulations.

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