India can strengthen its competitiveness and realize the ambitions of its Digital India program by promoting policies that further the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across its economy, according to global enterprise software industry group Business Software Alliance (BSA).
BSA introduced its “Enterprise AI Adoption Agenda for India” at the BSA AI Pre-Summit Forum on Enabling India’s Enterprise AI Adoption, an official Pre-Summit Event of the AI Impact Summit 2026.
BSA’s AI Adoption Agenda for India makes concrete policy recommendations specific across talent and workforce, infrastructure and data, and AI governance aligned with the India–AI Impact Summit 2026’s foundational pillars of human capital, democratizing AI resources, economic growth and social good.
“Accelerating AI adoption across industries means adding over $500 billion to India’s economy over the next decade and achieving the goals and vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047” said BSA CEO Victoria Espinel. “BSA’s recommendations to accelerate AI adoption in India are based on real-world feedback from industry leaders about the opportunities for India, as well as the challenges for industry to address in partnership with the government.”
“BSA AI Pre-Summit Forum as an official Pre-Summit Event of the AI Impact Summit 2026 brought together government leaders, industry experts, BSA members and key stakeholders to explore how enterprise AI can transform governance, fuel innovation, and build an inclusive digital future for India”, she added. “We commend Prime Minister Modi for his leadership in hosting the AI Impact Summit and look forward to joining him there.”
BSA recommendations tying back to the key pillars of the India’s National AI Mission supports accelerating AI adoption across industries. These foundational pillars could contribute an additional $500–600B to India’s GDP by 2035 as per NITI Aayog’s AI for Viksit Bharat report, driven by productivity improvements, operational efficiencies, refocusing labor on higher-value tasks.
The key policy recommendations on the agenda highlight:
- Talent & Workforce: Recommendations include expanding IndiaAI FutureSkills by incorporating sector-specific training, scaling nationwide AI training academies, such as those at the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and building a national AI curriculum in partnership with industry and government. The agenda also calls for AI innovation hubs with global enterprise companies to deepen talent pipelines and accelerate adoption of AI-enabled tools and capabilities.
- Infrastructure & Data:The agenda urges greater government adoption of AI tools, modernization of procurement policies, support for SME adoption, and investment in cloud and connectivity infrastructure. The agenda also recommends expanding access to non-sensitive high-value government datasets, implementing a text and data mining exception in India’s copyright law and removal of restrictions to cross border data transfers.
- Governance: Adopt a whole-of-government approach to AI policy as outlined in the Report on AI Governance and Guidelines Development by the Subcommittee on AI Governance and Guidelines Development. Incentivize better AI training by ensuring that the Digital Personal Data Protection Act supports processing of personal data for AI training and promotes trusted use of AI in cybersecurity and develop and deploy an open industry standard for reliable content authentication and provenance mechanisms.
The BSA “Enterprise AI Adoption Agenda for India” is part of a worldwide effort by BSA to promote the importance of AI adoption across industries and develop roadmaps to help policymakers in leading markets better facilitate AI adoption. BSA has launched similar agendas for the United States, Japan, and ASEAN member states.