New Delhi, February 15 – India’s AI Governance Guidelines are based on seven “Sutras” to ensure that AI serves as an enabler for inclusive development, economic growth, and global competitiveness, while effectively addressing risks to individuals and society through proportionate, evidence-based measures, according to an official explanation issued on Sunday.
Through this structured and forward-looking approach, India aims to realize the vision of “AI for All,” ensuring that the transformative potential of artificial intelligence meaningfully contributes to the national aspiration of “Developed India” by 2047, with benefits reaching every citizen in a safe, inclusive, and sustainable manner, the statement said.
The seven guiding principles are: Trust is the Foundation, People First, Innovation over Restraint, Fairness & Equity, Accountability, Understandable by Design, and Safety, Resilience & Sustainability.
By focusing on “AI for All,” India seeks to combine sovereign capability with open innovation—leveraging public digital infrastructure, indigenous model development, and affordable computing to drive productivity and inclusive growth. This approach aligns AI development with the broader aspiration of “Developed India 2047,” positioning AI as a catalyst for economic transformation, social empowerment, and strategic autonomy, the statement said.
India’s achievements reflect this “deployment-first” philosophy. Under the IndiaAI Mission, over 38,000 GPUs have been onboarded through a subsidized national computing facility. AIKosh now hosts more than 9,500 datasets and 273 sectoral models, strengthening indigenous model development. The National Supercomputing Mission has operationalized 40+ petaflop systems, including AIRAWAT and PARAM Siddhi-AI. In terms of capacity, IndiaAI and FutureSkills initiatives are supporting 500 PhDs, 5,000 postgraduates, and 8,000 undergraduates, while 570 AI Data Labs and 27 IndiaAI labs across states are expanding grassroots innovation. With nearly 90 per cent of startups integrating AI in some form, India is embedding AI deeply into its innovation ecosystem, the statement said.
The India AI Governance Guidelines, to be released at the AI Impact Summit 2026, arrive at a critical juncture to consolidate these gains. The framework adopts a principle-based, techno-legal approach. By establishing new institutions such as the AI Governance Group, the Technology & Policy Expert Committee, and the AI Safety Institute, India is institutionalizing a whole-of-government model that balances innovation with safeguards. The guidelines strengthen India’s ambition to lead not only in AI adoption and capability, but also in responsible, inclusive, and trusted AI governance globally, the statement further said.
The key principles of the AI Governance framework have been carefully designed to ensure cross-sectoral applicability and technology neutrality, enabling relevance across diverse use cases and stages of technological evolution. Together, these principles provide a flexible and future-ready foundation for responsible AI development and deployment, the statement added.
