New Delhi, February 18 India needs to significantly increase its investment in Artificial Intelligence from the current USD 1.2 billion to match global levels, and the Budget announcement of a 20-year tax holiday for foreign companies provides "foundational infrastructure" for expanding AI, a senior NVIDIA official said on Wednesday.
Shanker Trivedi, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Business at NVIDIA, said that out of the 2,000 global corporations, 1,800 have a major global capability center in India, currently employing over 2 million people, which is expected to grow to 3 million.
"Each of these global capability centers needs its own local AI factory from which they will take their data, their business processes, their IP, and convert it into intelligence. Therefore, this (Budget announcement) represents a significant opportunity in India. And, as we have described, this is foundational infrastructure," Trivedi said at the AI Impact Summit 2026.
In the Union Budget for 2026-27, a 20-year tax holiday was announced for any foreign company that procures data center services in India, allaying fears that their global income would be taxed by Indian authorities.
Regardless of whether a global company sets up its own data center in India or procures services from an Indian data center, the tax treatment will be the same, ensuring a level playing field.
Speaking about India's push for AI, Trivedi said that India's USD 1.2-billion investment in AI infrastructure in India is commendable and is being highly utilized.
"However, to put this into context, the overall investment per year in core infrastructure in India is now in the order of USD 150 billion per year. And we need this infrastructure. We need the roads, bridges, railways, high-speed trains, airports, seaports, and the electricity grid, which all contribute to this USD 150 billion per year.
"However, the amount being invested at USD 1.2 billion for the AI mission is still insufficient to create the scale of AI needed and to put India on the manufacturing map, not just for India, but for India, on the global stage. Therefore, I hope that we will be able to, as the economy grows, invest more in this AI infrastructure," Trivedi added.
NVIDIA dominates the GPU market, particularly chipsets, which are vital for the development of the AI ecosystem, due to its fast processing speed.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved a comprehensive national-level IndiaAI mission with a Budget outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore in March 2024.
The IndiaAI mission aims to establish a comprehensive ecosystem that catalyzes AI innovation through strategic programs and partnerships across the public and private sectors.
