To become major player in AI, India has to reimagine itself: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry | Photo Credit: V RAJU

India has maximum number of data consumption in the world per capita, with a billion Internet users and second highest ChatGPT users in the globe, and the country is also becoming a major artificial intelligence (AI) player, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, said here on Thursday.

“If we are looking at becoming a major AI player, a major player in the future of tech...we have to reimagine ourselves. There’s no way we can live in the past..We have to quickly reorient, accept the future, adopt it,” he said at an event here.

Speaking at the launch of a report, ‘India’s Technology Services – Reimagination Ahead’ by Niti Aayog, Goyal said there is to be huge foreign exchange inflows and FDI coming into India because of the whole IT ecosystem including AI data centres, which is going to create jobs in India.

“Data center is a small part, the whole infrastructure/ ecosystem that would require around it, will create new jobs. Then, everybody wants data centers to be powered by clean energy. So, all solar wind, our 100 GW nuclear energy plants, our battery storage, green hydrogen...all of that, the whole ecosystem gets a huge fillip,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Niti Aayog report recommended that the next decade’s growth will come from new verticals and geographies—particularly healthcare, semiconductors, defence, and cybersecurity, and regions such as Japan, the West Asia, and India’s domestic market.

Therefore, tech services players should prioritise localised solutions and domain expertise in these high-growth areas, investing in partnerships and regional delivery models to capture value from emerging demand for AI, cloud, and digital engineering services.

It has also recommended for establishing a unified architecture that continuously maps AI’s impact on job families, identifies sunset and emerging high-demand roles, and provides structured transition pathways.

“Embed clear expectations for tech services players through standardised AI-readiness assessments, role redesign templates, human–AI collaboration practices, and skill benchmarking tools. Use this integrated framework to steer skilling priorities, curriculum updates, and labour-market programmes across ministries and sectors,” the report highlighted.

Viksit Bharat 2047

The report also said that to align with the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, the sector needs to aim to achieve $750–850 billion in annual revenue by 2035 to sustain a 7–8 per cent share of GDP and expanding its global market share beyond 25 per cent.

“However, current trajectories indicate a $250–300 billion shortfall, underscoring the need for decisive action. Emerging technologies such as generative and agentic AI, cloud infrastructure, and digital engineering present India with a historic opportunity to bridge this gap and reposition itself as a leader in trusted, innovation-driven digital services,” the report added.

Published on February 12, 2026