India's AI Drive – “The Perfect Storm for India”
Reliance Industries is supporting the development of India’s first large language model, with BharatGPT planning to roll out this ‘Hanooman’ service in March 2024. This model has the aim of working in 11 local languages in healthcare, governance, financial services, and education.[1] With India launching this ChatGPT-style service, it is undoubtedly a pivotal step in support of the country’s wider ambitions regarding AI.[2]
As we have already seen from the US to China, key internet giants and start-ups have been investing billions in their attempts to gain their place at the table of rapid AI expansion. Perhaps India’s developments will grant them a space at this table? I expect that through this AI race within the technology sphere, India may become a powerful new competitor. With one of the world’s largest pools of IT and engineering talent in an increasingly growing domestic market, the country possesses many advantages. Gartner even suggests that AI’s global software market could reach $297billion by 2027.[3] From this, IT industry body Nasscom and consultancy BCG have further corroborated that demand solely for AI services in India may equate to $17billion in 2027. As Debjani Ghosh, the president of Nasscom has elaborated upon – as genAI has emerged, Indian tech companies have begun to include AI-driven analytics, intelligent automation, and personalised customer interactions.[4] With a focus not solely on just adopting AI, these companies are redefining service offerings, and creating new industry standards through providing more value for clients. It is ultimately the people and talent that India provides which will be its greatest strength and endow it the upper hand.
However, there are inevitable challenges. India will have to predict, manage and overcome AI-related disruptions. This includes managing the threat of job displacement from call-centre outsourcing to programming. Further, insufficient infrastructure for training large-language generative AI models may lead to the building of smaller platforms being pursued instead – of which this lack of infrastructure is not as large of a challenge its US and China counterparts face. It is important that India adapts to these changes being brought about by AI around the globe, as this will inevitably renovate traditionally relied on processes as well as propel change. With India’s IT industry serving the world’s biggest enterprises and being responsible for around 8% of India’s GDP[5], it must seamlessly embrace this challenge and change.
As the country with the largest population in the world, there are indeed fears that AI could aggravate the situation of employment shortages that India already struggles with. However, as Nasscom president Debjani Ghosh has stated – “AI is the perfect storm for India”. In stepping in as a contender for a part of the $300billion AI market, India now has the unprecedented chance of driving its economic growth and expanding its technological expertise.
[1] https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/india-digest-reliance-uber-384391
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-21/an-ai-model-backed-by-mukesh-ambani-speeds-toward-a-march-india-rollout?leadSource=uverify%20wall
[3] https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/india-s-tech-leaders-jockey-for-slice-of-300-billion-ai-market-1.2037241
[4] https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/artificial-intelligence/indias-ai-market-to-reach-17bn-by-2027-nasscom-bcg/107871471
[5] Ibid.
