Weak foundations, slow progress threaten India’s AI ambitions

Talent gaps, poor data & weak infrastructure hinders AI push

India stands at a pivotal moment as artificial intelligence reshapes global power dynamics. Despite a vast talent pool and growing digital economy, the nation’s AI foundations from data quality and modern infrastructure to regulation and cybersecurity remain underdeveloped. As global competition intensifies, experts warn that India must act urgently or risk losing its strategic, economic and technological edge.

As nations across the world double down on artificial intelligence as the next major driver of economic and strategic power, India finds itself at a crossroads. While the country is home to one of the world’s largest pools of software engineers and a booming digital economy, experts say the foundations required to build and deploy advanced AI systems remain fragile.

As the United States, China, the European Union, Japan and even smaller players like Singapore and the United Arab Emirates push forward with national AI frameworks, indigenous models and massive investments, India risks losing its competitive edge.

According to a 2024 Accenture study, AI has the potential to add up to USD 500 billion to India’s GDP by 2026, yet the country currently contributes only 2 pc to global AI research output and ranks 10th globally in AI readiness. The gap is widening as other countries accelerate faster. India is projected to require 2 million AI and data professionals by 2027, but industry reports show that only 25 to 30 pc of current engineering graduates are employable in advanced AI roles. The talent shortfall is one of several systemic bottlenecks slowing progress.

The core foundations needed for AI are still weak in India says  Saurav Pratap Singh, Cybersecurity Specialist with nearly six years of experience, currently working with Japanese technology firm NTT Data,  who advises both private enterprises and government-linked organisations, believes India’s AI lag is rooted in structural constraints.

“India is falling behind because the core foundations required for AI are still weak. Many organisations still operate on legacy systems, slow digitisation, and fragmented platforms. Countries leading in AI have unified cloud ecosystems, high-performance computing, and modernised IT stacks we are not there yet,” Singh tells Media India Group.

The lack of clean, standardised data is another major hurdle. India generates enormous data across sectors, but it remains scattered across ministries, states and private silos. Much of it is unstructured or inconsistent a challenge when building large-scale AI models.

“The problem is not data scarcity. The problem is data quality and governance. Without structured datasets and clear standards, training advanced AI becomes extremely difficult,” says Singh.

He adds that despite producing nearly 1.5 million engineering graduates each year, only a small fraction are skilled in machine learning, data engineering, AI security or responsible AI development. “Our education and skilling systems have not caught up with what modern AI actually requires,” he notes.

Regulatory uncertainty compounds the issue. Unlike the EU, which has rolled out the world’s first comprehensive AI law, India’s long-term AI policy and data governance rules remain in a flux. “Businesses hesitate to invest without clear rules. Stable regulations are essential for innovation,” Singh adds.

Security concerns further slow adoption. Many organisations are reluctant to deploy AI on infrastructure that lacks basic cybersecurity hygiene.

“Unpatched systems, poor monitoring and weak identity management create huge risks. Without a security-first approach, AI deployment becomes difficult and dangerous,” he adds.

A recent report by IBM found that AI-powered cyberattacks have increased globally. Attackers are leveraging machine learning to automate phishing, generate deepfakes and identify system vulnerabilities at machine speeds. According to the report’s findings, one in six or 16 pc data breaches involved attackers using AI.

Singh says that India is particularly exposed. “Global attackers are already using AI to automate malware, craft deepfake videos and run advanced vulnerability scans. Without equivalent defensive tools, India becomes an easy target. The threat surface is expanding faster than our defences,” he maintains.

Critical infrastructure including power grids, banking, telecom, transport and healthcare are at heightened risk. India has seen a dramatic 46 pc increase in cyberattacks year-on-year, with an average of 3,201 attacks per week, ranking second in the Asia-Pacific region. The education, research and government sectors remain prime targets, while healthcare and military institutions also face significant threats. With AI-optimised attacks capable of bypassing outdated systems, the danger is growing.

Dependence on foreign AI models also raises sovereignty concerns.

“When you rely on external AI systems, you risk leakage of sensitive national and citizen data. It weakens digital sovereignty and creates long-term strategic dependence. No major nation can afford that,” says Singh.

Economically, the cost of inaction is steep. Indian enterprises that fail to integrate AI risk falling behind global competitors. The World Economic Forum (WEF) highlights significant economic risks from slow AI adoption, with potential productivity losses of up to 30 pc over the next decade. Industries like manufacturing, banking, logistics, retail, and healthcare stand to suffer the most.

At the workforce level, the cyber skill deficit is widening. According to reports, the global cybersecurity workforce gap exceeded 4 million professionals in 2023, with India alone requiring more than 500,000 skilled experts to meet current demand. This shortage is not merely a hiring challenge; it is a business risk. Organisations are increasingly vulnerable to threats not because of a lack of technology, but because they lack the people with the skills to deploy, manage, and innovate those technologies effectively. As global cybercriminals evolve with AI, India’s defensive teams without comparable technology are struggling to respond.

“This mismatch increases both the frequency and impact of incidents. We need secure foundations, clear rules and talent fast,” says Singh.

To close the gap, Singh says that India needs a coordinated national strategy that integrates policy, innovation, security and talent-building. The first step, he says, is modernising digital infrastructure. “AI cannot run on outdated systems. We need secure cloud adoption, high-performance computing, and strong identity and access controls across all institutions,” says Singh.

He also emphasises the need for a coherent AI governance framework something India currently lacks.

“We need clear rules on AI ethics, explainability, accountability and cross-sector standards. This gives businesses the confidence to experiment and innovate without fear of regulatory backlash,” Singh adds.

Data quality must be improved through national-standard datasets, privacy-by-design practices, and anonymised public data repositories. “If we fix our data foundations, half the battle is won,” says Singh.

Talent development is equally critical. India will need millions of specialists in ML security, adversarial AI, cloud security and data engineering. Singh advocates for large-scale programmes in universities, national cyber ranges and public–private research labs.

“We need to train not just engineers but domain experts who understand AI risks and defences,” says Singh.

Encouraging domestic AI innovation particularly in defence, finance, and cybersecurity is another priority. Countries like the UAE and Singapore are already investing billions to build sovereign AI models and compute clusters. India, he says, must not fall behind.

Singh stresses that every AI system deployed in sensitive sectors must undergo security testing to detect vulnerabilities such as model poisoning, prompt injection and data leakage. “Security cannot be an afterthought. It must be built into AI from day one,” he says.

According to Singh the global AI landscape is moving at unprecedented speed. While India has the potential, talent and scale to become a major player, the country is losing time.

“AI is not just a technology shift it should be a national security, economic and strategic priority. If India does not move faster, the gap will become irreversible,” says Singh.