India ranks among top global AI powers, says Ashwini Vaishnaw at Davos

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw has asserted that India is “clearly in the first group” of global artificial intelligence (AI) powers, rejecting suggestions that the country should be viewed as a second-tier player in the global AI landscape.

Vaishnaw made the comments on Wednesday while responding to remarks by Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the global impact of AI.

Minister rebuts IMF’s assessment

During the session, Georgieva said the world was already witnessing the rise of AI, with several emerging market economies showing comparative strength. She cited Saudi Arabia as an example and added that India, too, was among such economies due to its strong bet on information technology at the higher end of the value chain.

However, Georgieva pointed out that low-income and many middle-income countries were still “way, way behind” in the AI race.

Later in the discussion, another panellist described India as the world’s fastest-growing major economy and a notable AI player but placed it in a “second grouping” of countries, those that would need to align strategically with the United States or China in shaping their AI futures.

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Vaishnaw pushed back against this classification, stressing that India’s AI strategy is comprehensive and covers the entire technology stack.

Ashwini Vaishnaw pushes back after IMF chief calls India a second-tier AI power

"I don't know what the IMF criteria is but Stanford places India at 3rd in the world for AI preparedness. I don't think your classification is correct" pic.twitter.com/fEBWL4Ekms

— Shashank Mattoo (@MattooShashank) January 21, 2026

“India should not be placed in any second grouping,” he said. “We are working on all five layers, making very good progress in all five layers,” he added, referring to the five core components of AI architecture, the application layer, the model layer, the chip layer, the infrastructure layer and the energy layer.

The minister also questioned the basis of the IMF’s assessment, citing independent global academic rankings. Referring to Stanford University’s AI Index evaluations, Vaishnaw said India ranks third globally in AI penetration and preparedness, and second in AI talent.

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“So I don’t think your classification in the second bouquet is right. It’s actually in the first,” he said.

India’s strengths in AI application and scale

Vaishnaw highlighted that India’s major strength lies in the application layer of AI, which focuses on translating AI models into real-world solutions that enhance productivity and efficiency.

He said India is well-positioned to become the world’s largest supplier of AI-driven services by leveraging its deep understanding of enterprise-level needs and deploying tailored AI applications across sectors.

According to the minister, this is where the “real return on investment in AI” is generated, not just in building massive foundational models.

He further noted that most AI tasks can be performed effectively with models containing between 20 billion and 50 billion parameters, and said India already has “a bouquet of such models” being deployed in multiple domains.

Vaishnaw emphasised that India’s approach to AI prioritises diffusion at scale, ensuring that the benefits of AI extend across industries and reach all layers of society.