New Delhi: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday launched the World Bank Group’s World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence. The event took place at The Oberoi. Vaishnaw is the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Railways, and Information and Broadcasting. The report examines the opportunities and challenges AI presents for developing economies. It also sets out a framework for countries to harness AI for development through adoption, adaptation and advancement.
The IndiaAI Mission, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), organised the launch with the World Bank Group. Senior policymakers, global development experts, technology leaders and practitioners attended. Together, they discussed how India can maximise the development gains from AI and sustain them safely. The programme also featured a State AI Showcase, where States and innovators presented AI-enabled solutions from across the country.
The report notes that AI can widen access to expertise. It can also raise productivity and improve service delivery in developing economies. Moreover, AI-enabled tools are already in use in medical screening, agricultural decision-making and education. These tools extend scarce expertise to larger sections of the population. However, the report stresses that these gains rest on strong foundations. These include reliable electricity and connectivity, computing infrastructure, quality data, skills, education systems and capable institutions.
Vaishnaw delivered the keynote address and formally presented the report. He underlined India’s approach of democratising technology so that AI benefits reach citizens, enterprises and institutions across the country. “AI is changing the lives of ordinary people,” he said. For example, sugarcane yields in Baramati rose by 40 per cent with 30 per cent less water and fertiliser. Farmers who have never used a computer achieved this simply through voice on a phone. Similarly, TB detection has increased by 35 per cent, he said.
The Minister added that the Baramati initiative draws on satellite, IoT and weather data. It has also lowered labour costs. Meanwhile, in Gujarat, 5 lakh farmers are using AgriStack. In addition, AI for animal health through Sarlaben is benefiting 3 crore cattle and their farmers.
India has emerged as a significant ecosystem for developing and deploying AI. Applications span healthcare, agriculture, education, governance, financial services and other sectors of public and economic importance. Through the IndiaAI Mission, the government is building an AI ecosystem across seven pillars. These are IndiaAI Compute Capacity, the IndiaAI Innovation Centre for indigenous foundation models, the IndiaAI Datasets Platform (AIKosh), the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.
The Mission seeks to strengthen India’s capabilities across the AI value chain. At the same time, it aims to keep AI development inclusive, responsible and suited to India’s scale, diversity and multilingual context. The government’s approach focuses on democratising access to compute, data and models. It also addresses India-specific challenges and creates economic and employment opportunities.
Under the Safe & Trusted AI pillar, the government is supporting indigenous tools and frameworks for responsible AI. These include AI bias mitigation, algorithm auditing, explainable AI, privacy-preserving AI and deepfake detection. The government has also put institutional mechanisms for AI governance and safety in place. Overall, the India launch gave policymakers and practitioners a platform to examine how successful AI pilots can be identified, evaluated and scaled. They also discussed how to safeguard against AI risks.
The event began with welcome remarks by Sudeep Srivastava, Chief Operating Officer of the IndiaAI Mission and Joint Secretary at MeitY. Dr Somik Lall, Director of Strategy, Development Economics at the World Bank Group, also spoke. Lall said one key message of the report is about deploying AI rather than creating it. He added that India has a unique opportunity to bring together institutions, markets and AI to transform millions of lives.
World Development Report urges countries to adopt, adapt and advance AI
Dr Michael Kremer, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group, delivered the keynote lecture on “From AI Pilots to Scale: The Promise of AI in India”. He said India’s progress in AI holds lessons for the wider developing world. Citing weather advisories for farmers and EdTech solutions in Andhra Pradesh, he said scaling AI needs a full-stack approach. In his view, this means humans and institutions, not just software.
Kremer also cited India’s AI-based monsoon forecasting as an example for the world. The government tested and combined multiple AI models through its meteorological agencies and the Ministry of Agriculture. These included open-access models. It then delivered the forecasts to millions of farmers through text, voice and AI-powered advisories. The model predicted the unusual 2025 monsoon, and Ethiopia is now following India’s lead, he said. He added that the case shows government has an important role where commercial incentives are weak but social potential is high.
Dr Gaurav Nayyar, Director of the World Development Report 2026, then presented its key findings. He said India is already approaching AI for development by adapting tools to local contexts. The government acts as an enabler, user and regulator of the technology, he said. According to Nayyar, AI can solve for developing countries like India in decades what could not have been done in a century.
The presentation set out three core messages for developing countries: be optimistic, be strategic and be pragmatic. Countries should adopt and adapt AI, and then advance. They should focus on adapting tools to local contexts rather than spending billions of dollars building advanced systems from scratch. In addition, they should make cost-conscious choices as enablers, users and regulators of AI. The report also noted that the risk of job disruption is less imminent in developing countries. Furthermore, it said the countries with the most to gain from AI may be the least prepared. Only one of the world’s 25 low-income countries has published a national AI strategy.
Neelkanth Mishra, Executive Director at the World Bank Group, and S. Krishnan, Secretary at MeitY, then delivered special remarks. Krishnan said the report aligns closely with India’s AI roadmap of compute, data and models. He said it sets out a sensible approach to regulation. This approach relies on existing laws and voluntary compliance, and revisits regulation as the technology evolves.
Krishnan added that human capabilities matter most. In line with the Prime Minister’s vision, work is under way on an AI Talent Mission, he said. India has among the highest AI skill penetration in the world, so it can support the Global South. However, enterprise adoption of AI at home must expand, he said. He also said government must remain nimble and flexible.
A high-level panel discussion on “Making AI Work for Development in India” followed. It addressed three questions. These were the challenges of AI adoption in India, how India can adapt AI to local contexts and needs, and the policies required to contain AI risks. The discussion emphasised that policies must ensure AI’s gains are widely shared and its risks tightly contained.
The panel comprised Mishra, Lall, Dr Vivek Raghavan of Sarvam AI, Dr Neeraj Agrawal of Wadhwani AI, Maneesh Singh of BharatGen and Shankar Maruwada of the EkStep Foundation. Shereen Bhan of CNBC-TV18 moderated the session. Panellists stressed the need to move beyond isolated pilots towards evidence-based scale-up. They also called for stronger local capabilities, better access to data and compute, and appropriate institutional frameworks. Finally, they said AI solutions must stay relevant to India’s diverse social and economic contexts.
The State AI Showcase, “AI Innovations from Across India”, followed the panel. It offered a pan-India view of how States are deploying scalable AI applications across sectors. Each presenter highlighted one AI-enabled solution, its implementation journey and its measurable impact. First, M. Venugopal Reddy, Director of the Women Development & Child Welfare Department in Andhra Pradesh, presented Navachetana. It is an early screening initiative to detect developmental delays in children aged 0 to 6 years. Next, Fahim Shaikh of the PoCRA Project in Maharashtra presented MahaVISTAAR AI. It is a connected platform for personalised advisories, digital services and farmer engagement.
Richa Kulkarni, State Project Director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and Director of School Education & Literacy in Meghalaya, then presented EdskGrid. It is a GeoAI governance intelligence solution for education. Finally, Dhritiman Mallick, Co-Founder and CEO of Vyuhaa Med Data, presented Vyuhaa-Cerviai. It is a cervical cancer screening solution for the point of care. Vyuhaa Med Data is a winner of the NCG Catch Grant. The showcase highlighted diverse approaches, emerging models and solutions with potential for adaptation across geographies.
The deliberations underscored the importance of building public trust in AI. They also stressed that the technology must develop safely, responsibly and inclusively. In addition, they reinforced the need for countries to build the foundational capabilities, institutions and policy frameworks required to turn AI advances into broad-based and sustainable development outcomes. Md. Y. Safirulla K., IAS, Director of the IndiaAI Mission, gave the closing remarks.
