India has spent the past decade building one of the world’s largest digital networks. From Aadhaar to DigiLocker, the country has safely stored millions of government documents. Now, the government wants to use it in the nation’s AI plan.
According to the Economic Survey 2025–26, India plans to treat data as a national resource, capable of powering the next wave of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation. But the goal isn’t just to collect or control data; it’s to ensure the value created from Indian data benefits Indians first.
Creating value chains around Indian data
India’s data potential is vast. Government portals like DigiLocker and Aadhaar already store more than 16 billion verified documents, and open-data initiatives have catalogued thousands of public datasets in sectors from agriculture to healthcare. Yet most of this information remains underutilised for AI training.
The Survey calls for a national network of data trusts, secure intermediaries that allow private players to access anonymised data for model training while safeguarding privacy. It also recommends a data-use dividend, a mechanism in which companies that use large volumes of Indian data contribute financially or technologically to the nation’s AI infrastructure.
If India can securely share anonymised data with researchers, startups, and AI developers, it could create a new public platform for innovation, something similar to what UPI did for digital payments.
For instance, anonymised health data could help create better AI tools for disease prediction, while agricultural data could be used to forecast crop yields or design innovative irrigation systems. In both cases, citizens would benefit directly from better, data-powered public services.
The government’s new AI framework takes a middle path between open access and data protection. Instead of imposing strict localisation, which could block innovation, the plan requires companies using Indian data to move back to India in some form.
Making AI accountable and ethical
Alongside this new data policy, the government plans to set up two institutions:
- An AI Economic Council, which will ensure AI helps create jobs and boost human welfare.
- An AI Safety Institute, which will test and certify AI models for fairness, bias, and transparency.
Together, they will ensure India’s AI growth remains ethical and people-first. The focus is on trust, not control, building confidence among users, companies, and global partners that India can innovate responsibly.
If done right, this strategy could make India not only a hub for AI talent but also a model for how data can drive development without compromising privacy.
