India hasn’t missed AI bus as some foreign media perceive: FM

India has not missed the artificial intelligence (AI) or quantum computing bus; rather, a perception largely shaped by overseas media suggests otherwise, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.

Speaking at an IIT Madras Alumni Association event, Sitharaman said the perception was partly driven by the absence of a significant number of AI companies listed on the National Stock Exchange or Bombay Stock Exchange. Several Indian AI startups, she noted, had already become unicorns or were close to achieving that status.

Indian startups were generally wary of listing because of the compliance requirements involved, she said, but pointed out that being listed also had significant advantages.

“Just not being in the stock market cannot be an adequate measure to see what’s happening in India. But mind you, that’s the world. We have to address or respond to these narratives too,” she said.

A stronger presence of AI companies on the bourses, she added, could signal to global investors that significant activity was taking place in India and attract more international funding.

Ms. Sitharaman called for greater investment in AI infrastructure, quantum computing and semiconductor manufacturing, which she described as the next major frontiers of growth. India, she said, needed to accelerate the development of hardware, skills and institutional capabilities rather than slow down.

“Despite the call for slowing down the speed with which innovators are coming up in the AI field, I’ll still think, for India, from where it is, we still need a lot more investment,” she said, particularly in hardware and in training teachers and institutions to continually upgrade and impart AI-related skills.

She also highlighted the growing need for AI among micro, small and medium enterprises across sectors to improve productivity and global competitiveness. The scale and timing of such investments, she said, was something academia and industry needed to determine together.

The next major wave of infrastructure investment, she said, would likely involve AI, semiconductors and quantum technologies, making collaboration between industry and academia critical to building capabilities.

Defence production, particularly in emerging technologies such as unmanned systems and drones, is another potential growth area, Ms. Sitharaman said.

Global defence suppliers themselves are struggling to keep pace with rapid technological change, she noted, creating opportunities for India to build capabilities and compete in expanding markets.