India must transform its scale, talent pool, and digital public infrastructure into durable technological leverage in artificial intelligence (AI), rather than pursuing the illusion of self-sufficiency, according to a new report by India Narrative released on 5 August.

The report describes AI as a 'deeply interconnected technological system' that will inevitably carry dependencies — and argues that chasing pure autonomy is both unrealistic and strategically counterproductive.

The Case for Strategic Agency

'The objective must be strategic agency: the ability to shape options, influence standards and make choices that others must take seriously,' wrote Nirupama Rao, former Indian Foreign Secretary, in a piece for the publication.

The report frames AI not merely as an economic opportunity or a threat to employment, but as an emerging organising principle of international power. Countries that dominate advanced computing, semiconductor design, data infrastructure, frontier models, and the scientific talent behind them, it argues, will hold advantages that extend well beyond the technology sector.

'AI will shape military capability, industrial competitiveness and diplomatic influence,' Rao wrote, calling it the 'ground zero on which the future distribution of global power may be decided.'

Managed Interdependence Over Isolation

Rather than retreating into technological nationalism, the report calls on Indian policymakers to pursue managed interdependence — built on diversified partnerships, stronger domestic research and manufacturing, and sustained investment in energy and computing infrastructure.

It identifies a range of potential partners: France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Nordic countries for research, manufacturing, energy-efficient computing, and governance; Singapore for regulatory and technological sophistication; and the Gulf states for capital, energy, and ambitions to become major centres of computing infrastructure.

Notably, the report cautions against the assumption that access to global markets makes domestic capability unnecessary. Strong indigenous competence in critical areas, diversified supply chains, trusted international partnerships, and enough domestic knowledge to innovate and replace imported systems are all identified as essential.

India's Existing Strengths

The report highlights several advantages India can build on: its demographic scale, a large technology workforce, a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, extensive digital public infrastructure, and established ties with both advanced and developing economies.

The India AI Mission is identified as a vehicle for converting some of these strengths into national capability. At the 2026 India AI Impact Summit, the government announced that over 38,000 GPUs had already been provisioned under the mission, with plans to add another 20,000.

What the Report Recommends

In practical terms, the report urges India to prioritise three pillars: diversified strategic partnerships rather than dependence on any single technology bloc; domestic research and manufacturing capacity in semiconductors and frontier AI; and infrastructure investment in energy and high-performance computing.

The underlying argument is that influence in the AI era will belong not to countries that achieve impossible self-reliance, but to those that are indispensable enough — and capable enough — that their choices cannot be ignored. Whether India's current policy trajectory matches that ambition remains the open question.