Sam Pitroda: India lagging on AI despite Indian talent shaping the field
Synopsis
Sam Pitroda draws a sharp line: Indian technologists are shaping global AI, but India as a nation has no AI policy, no direction, and no governance application. His call for a 'special technology mission' on court backlogs and AI for farmers is less a critique and more a blueprint — one that reframes AI not as a market opportunity but as a development imperative.
Key Takeaways
Sam Pitroda said India is in a 'bad position' on AI as a nation, despite Indian technologists shaping the global industry.
He said India has no AI policy , no direction , and has not used AI for governance.
Pitroda called for a special technology mission to use AI in settling India's massive court case backlog.
He urged AI deployment in education , healthcare , and agriculture rather than financial markets or Western economic problems.
He argued that India-built solutions could serve developing nations in Latin America and beyond, citing the principle 'made for India, made for world.' Pitroda credited early indigenous tech institutions — C-DOT and C-DAC — with building the talent base behind India's 7 million IT jobs .
Senior Congress leader Sam Pitroda has said that India remains poorly positioned in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a nation, even as Indian technologists continue to play an outsized role in shaping the global industry. Speaking in New York on 28 August, Pitroda called for AI to be deployed urgently in India's courts, schools, healthcare system, and agriculture sector.
India vs Indians on AI
'India is in a bad position in AI. I'm sorry to say that. I don't like to say that. Believe me. Indians are in a good position on AI. Two separate things,' Pitroda said in an interview.
'There are a lot of Indian brains who shape AI. But as a nation, we have made very little progress. We have no policy on AI. We have no direction on AI. We have not used AI for our governance,' he added.
The distinction Pitroda draws is pointed: individual talent has flourished globally, but the Indian state has yet to harness that talent for domestic transformation. This comes amid growing global competition in AI policy, with the United States, China, and the European Union each having advanced regulatory and investment frameworks in place.
Where AI should be deployed, according to Pitroda
Pitroda, who played a central role in India's telecommunications and information technology expansion, argued that the true measure of AI progress should be its impact on ordinary citizens.
He cited India's vast judicial backlog as a priority use case. 'Can I use AI to settle my court cases? Finish. Can I just have a project, special technology mission on AI to settle court cases? Get that done, then I'd be very happy,' he said.
Beyond courts, he pressed for AI applications in education, healthcare cost reduction, and agricultural productivity. 'How is AI going to improve our education? How AI is going to improve our health system? Can AI bring the cost of health system down? How is AI going to be helpful to our farmers? Those are the issues,' he said.
Pitroda explicitly distanced himself from AI development aimed at financial markets or Western economic problems. 'Designing AI for solving Western world problem or some banking problem or some stock market thing is okay. It doesn't interest me,' he said.
Made for India, made for the world
Pitroda rejected the argument that India-focused AI solutions would lack global relevance. He contended that products built to solve India's problems — judicial backlogs, rural healthcare, farm productivity — would find ready application across developing nations facing similar challenges.
'When you make made for India, it becomes made for world. Today, every product is a global, global product. It depends on what problem you are trying to solve,' he said. He pointed to comparable judicial backlog problems in Latin America as one example of where India-designed solutions could travel.
India's IT legacy and what it must build next
Pitroda recalled India's early investments in indigenous technology development through institutions such as the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), both established roughly 45 years ago. Those efforts, he said, seeded the human capital that later powered India's IT sector.
'Seven million jobs in IT, seven million families lifted from poverty, at least, through IT. World recognition on IT. It is human talent from India,' he said.
He argued that this same talent must now be redirected toward the problems of the poor, both in India and across developing countries, rather than being concentrated on commercially lucrative challenges in wealthy markets. 'Best brains in the world are busy solving problems of the rich, who really don't have problems to solve. As a result, problems of the poor don't get the attention they need,' he said.
Pitroda is widely associated with the establishment of C-DOT and the expansion of public telecommunications under former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He later headed the National Knowledge Commission under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and has advised Congress leaders on technology and public policy for several decades. Whether his call for a national AI mission gains traction in India's current policy environment remains to be seen.
Point of View
However, is accountability — the Congress-led governments he served also had windows to build this architecture and did not. The more urgent question is not which party failed, but whether India's current policy momentum on semiconductors and digital public infrastructure can be extended into a genuine AI governance framework before the window narrows further.
NationPress
28 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Sam Pitroda say about India's position on AI?
Sam Pitroda said India is in a 'bad position' on Artificial Intelligence as a nation, despite Indian technologists playing a leading role globally. He stated that India has no AI policy, no direction, and has not used AI for governance.
What AI applications did Pitroda recommend for India?
Pitroda recommended deploying AI to clear India's massive court case backlog, improve education, reduce healthcare costs, and support farmers. He proposed a dedicated 'special technology mission' focused on settling court cases as a starting point.
Why does Pitroda say Indian talent and India's AI position are two different things?
Pitroda distinguishes between individual Indian technologists — who he says are shaping global AI — and India as a nation, which he argues has made very little institutional or policy progress. The talent has gone global, but the state has not harnessed it domestically.
Who is Sam Pitroda and why does his view on AI matter?
Sam Pitroda is a telecom engineer and policymaker widely credited with establishing C-DOT and expanding public telecommunications in India under Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He later headed the National Knowledge Commission under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, giving his technology-policy views significant historical weight.
Does Pitroda think India-focused AI solutions can have global relevance?
Yes. Pitroda argued that products designed to solve India's problems — such as judicial backlogs or rural healthcare — would be applicable across developing countries facing similar challenges. He cited comparable judicial backlog problems in Latin America as one example.
