India leads AI adoption in 2024 despite concerns

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India, the world’s biggest democracy, wholeheartedly embraced artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in 2024 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that AI could potentially transform India’s priority sectors, including healthcare. At the same time, a global regulatory framework and a concrete plan to stop the misuse of AI were the most talked about issues in 2024.

Job displacement was another area of concern in India after an International Monetary Fund (IMF) study pointed out that about 40% of jobs globally may be affected by the influence of AI. The United States of America faces a higher risk at 60%, while that in India is comparatively lower at 30% primarily because India—a predominantly agricultural economy—employs a large number of people and, therefore, is less affected by AI.

“India’s AI landscape flourished in 2024, with sectors like healthcare, finance, and logistics leading the way. The deployment of AI-driven automation in public services and private enterprises grew significantly. The government’s focus on skilling programs and AI centers of excellence has helped drive this momentum,” Rohan Sharan, founder and chief executive of Timechain Labs, an on-chain application development firm utilizing BSV blockchain technology, told CoinGeek. 

2024 also witnessed India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, pledging that his Reliance Industries would complete AI transformation across all businesses this year to become a global leader in AI adoption. That boosted confidence across the Web3 industry in India, signaling hope for faster adoption and bigger investments in the sector.

“In 2024, India witnessed substantial growth in the adoption of AI, with over 90% of businesses integrating AI technologies into their operations. This surge is driven by sectors such as banking, telecommunications, and media, where AI is utilized for tasks ranging from customer service automation to data analytics,” Sharat Chandra, founder of EmpowerEdge Ventures and a startup enabler, told CoinGeek. 

“Despite this progress, there remains a pressing need for clearer regulations and workforce training to fully leverage AI’s potential,” Chandra added.

IndiaAI Mission a major boost

AI adoption saw a major boost in 2024, with the federal government approving over Rs 10,300 crore ($1.24 billion) for the IndiaAI Mission, slated over the next five years. The initiative focuses on building AI infrastructure and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship through centers of excellence in areas like healthcare and agriculture. India also announced its intention to procure over 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) in a public-private partnership, addressing India’s computing capacity needs to develop a high-end AI ecosystem.

“India is leading in AI adoption, with 30% of Indian companies having maximized AI’s value potential, surpassing the global average of 26%,” pointed out Amit Kumar Gupta, a legal practitioner at the Supreme Court of India. 

“In 2024, venture investments in Indian software are expected to reach $1 billion, with about 25% of venture dollars going to AI startups. The government’s commitment to enhancing computing infrastructure and supporting startups through initiatives like the IndiaAI Mission further solidifies India’s position in the global AI landscape,” Gupta added.

AI for general elections

India’s general elections in 2024—where Modi won a rare third consecutive term—was the first time almost all political parties and candidates used AI extensively to reach voters, and are estimated to have spent more than $50 million on AI-generated election campaign materials.

However, the largest election in human history—with about 970 million registered voters—not only used AI to target voters through dozens of language translations, but also used the technology to create deepfake videos and conversational bots, raising concerns over the misuse of AI.

As a result, the Election Commission of India—established by the Constitution of India and empowered to conduct free and fair elections—issued an advisory to political parties warning them against misuse of AI tools to create deepfakes and spread misinformation and urging them to maintain the sanctity of the electoral process.

In December, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) called for proposals from academia and industry under the IndiaAI Mission to create tools and frameworks for real-time deepfake detection, watermarking and labeling AI-generated content, developing ethical AI frameworks, and conducting red team assessments of AI models, among other initiatives. 

MeitY also supports two research projects to detect AI-generated fake videos, audio, and images.

Government initiatives lead the way 

“Artificial intelligence adoption this year has seen a major uptick in India. This was backed by strategic initiatives and growing enterprise investments,” pointed out Raj Kapoor, chairman of the Global Alliance for Ethical AI Innovation. 

“Key sectors such as manufacturing and telecom advanced into the ‘expert’ maturity stage, driven by digital-native business models and robust frameworks for AI risk management. However, sectors like healthcare lagged behind due to challenges in data governance and use-case identification,” Kapoor told CoinGeek.

India has started using AI for climate change risk mitigation, adaptation, and other related issues. Abhay Karandikar, secretary of India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST), said that the two missions of DST—National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) and National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change (NMSKCC)—have led to significant progress in supporting 19 centres of excellence and 37 major research and development programs over the years.

“I believe that we may need to focus more on developing foundational models in AI in the Indian context,” Karandikar said. He pointed out that indigenous climate models based on data would bring about a better understanding of addressing climate change.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced plans to use AI and machine learning to predict weather conditions and reportedly assembled a network of 39 doppler weather radars covering 85% of India’s landmass that allow hourly forecasts for major cities.

“We have started using artificial intelligence in a limited way but within the next five years, AI will significantly enhance our models and techniques,” IMD’s director general, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, said in April.

“Incorporating AI and machine learning allows us to harness past data to extract valuable insights and improve forecasting accuracy without solely relying on traditional physics-based models,” Mohapatra added.

The Indian government also intended to integrate AI technology into digital public infrastructure to improve efficiencies and redefine the country’s digital ecosystem. India’s DPI includes a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) public platform and Aadhaar, touted as the world’s largest biometric identification system.

“The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare partnered with AI-based systems like NITI Aayog’s collaboration with Microsoft for detecting tuberculosis using AI algorithms in X-ray images, improving early detection and treatment. AI solutions have been deployed to predict crop yields, optimize water usage, and detect pest infestations. For example, AI-based Kisan drones assist in monitoring fields and spraying pesticides,” Kapoor pointed out. 

India’s capital city, Delhi, deployed AI-powered cameras to identify traffic rule violations, enabling automatic generation of penalties.

The provincial government of Gujarat signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with software majors IBM (NASDAQ: IBM) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) for promoting the use of AI in the state.

In December, the state government established an AI “Task Force” to develop a comprehensive strategy for creating and implementing an AI roadmap. The task force will focus on identifying key areas for AI integration and promoting AI literacy, among other responsibilities.

“In a progressive initiative, Gujarat introduced AI in schools to enhance personalized learning through adaptive technologies, enabling tailored education experiences for students based on their learning pace and style,” Kapoor added.

Finance sector warms up to AI in 2024

In the Indian banking and finance sector, Bank of Baroda, one of India’s leading public sector banks, introduced a generative AI-powered virtual relationship manager to significantly improve the digital customer service experience. A relationship manager provides advice to the bank’s clients on investments and financial services on offer. 

This year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) acknowledged an increased mention of AI-related technologies in the annual reports of public sector banks. Earlier, private sector banks were more proactive towards AI.

In its October bulletin, the central bank’s report pointed out that “enthusiasm” towards AI-based technologies at many public-sector banks in India is broadly at par with their private-sector peers. 

The RBI also feels generative AI, or gen AI, will contribute $359-438 billion to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2029-30. Simultaneously, Indian firms’ AI integration into production processes increased to 25% in 2024 from 8% in 2023. 

To tackle rising digital frauds, the RBI introduced an artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML)-based model, MuleHunter.AI, developed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH). The AI model is also expected to help banks deal with the issue of mule bank accounts, a typical tactic fraudsters use to funnel the proceeds of their fraudulent activities.

In addition, the central bank announced its plans to set up a committee to develop a framework for the ethical enablement of AI for the finance sector. The committee, comprising experts from diverse fields, will be tasked to recommend a robust, comprehensive, and adaptable AI framework for the financial sector.

In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI. 

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