Artificial intelligence has moved into the impact cycle for India due to multi-pronged efforts by the government’s IndiaAI mission, research and entrepreneurship by start-ups, and IT sector investments into AI.
While a lot still remains in the direction of sovereign AI, several use cases have given insight into the real potential of AI in an Indian context.
Agriculture
AI has the potential to transform agriculture in combination with precision farming via data from drones and sensors coupled with AI analysis.
For example, AI for agriculture initiatives from Wadhwani AI have reached ten lakh farmers. This includes solutions like computer vision-based analysis of pest infection, as well as an AI-based grievance addressing system.
Likewise, Project Saagu Baagu (meaning "agricultural advancement") is a successful Telangana state government initiative.
Supported by the WEF, it uses AI and digital tech (such as soil sensors, drones, advisory apps) to boost farmer income, yield, and efficiency significantly, improving chilli farming in a pilot run, and now being scaled up.
Education
A key aspect of AI in education is expanding access by using voice-based tools and personalisation.
Initiatives are already reaching students in over 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs. Even the Class 3 AI curriculum for 2026-27 makes AI a foundational subject with hands-on activities and responsible use education.
Andhra Pradesh's use of Microsoft's AI for dropout prediction and the DIKSHA platform’s multilingual content—all supported by national policies like NEP 2020—helps bridge teacher gaps and personalise learning across diverse regions.
Startups like Extramarks help by using AI in the creation of personalised, gamified activities and goal-aligned pathways, keeping students engaged at their own pace.
Healthcare
Broad areas of AI in healthcare in India encompass medical imaging, diagnostics, tele-medicine, predictive analytics, personalised medicine, drug discovery, clinical support, administrative efficiency, and public health surveillance.
AI is transforming healthcare in India by addressing major challenges like limited access in rural areas, doctor shortages, high costs, and late disease detection. Some examples of successes in India include startups like Niramai focusing on early breast cancer detection.
Likewise, Sigtuple helps in optimising lab diagnostics. Tricog Health uses AI so that ECGs uploaded to the cloud can be analysed for conditions like arrhythmia.
Public service delivery
AI has been a catalytic driver for public service delivery in India, and is going to be further scaled up in the coming years by integrating it with the Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile (JAM) stack to include AI solutions on top of existing DPI initiatives. AIKosh and AI4India are also geared for this.
Some key use cases have been AI-powered chatbots and co-pilots, such as Kisan e-Mitra for farmers, and e-Courts enhancements (with NLP) for faster justice.
Bhashini, a product of multiple years of research in Indic languages, has been used in several case studies, demonstrating its transformative role in multilingual public services across India.
It features real-time speech translation for PM speeches (such as Hindi→Tamil at the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam), voice-enabled grievance redressal, UIDAI’s My Aadhaar transliteration, railway queries via AskDISHA, e-Gram Swaraj transcription, Anuvaadini for educational content, and applications in healthcare, justice, and governance for inclusive access.
The writer is Chief Technology Officer at AIEnsured, a Bengaluru-based company that tests and validates AI systems before deployment
