India Needs AI Regulatory Framework To Boost Adoption: Goyal

SUMMARY

The commerce and industry minister said that India needs regulatory framework for AI to increase adoption

The statement was made at the Mumbai Tech Week 2025

He added that the ministry is engaged with all the stakeholders from the AI industry

Amid the booming wave of artificial intelligence across the globe, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that India needs an AI regulatory framework to increase adoption.

Speaking at the Mumbai Tech Week 2025, Goyal said, “We really need to be on the ball and get ourselves ready to have the regulatory framework to adopt AI and make sure we don’t fall behind the race.”

He added that the ministry is engaged with all the stakeholders from the AI industry.

Additionally, Goyal said that he is open to suggestions from media, industry experts, lawyers and other stakeholders regarding the framework. He emphasised that the country is capable of using data ethically and maintaining privacy.

Yesterday (February 28) during the event, former union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the advancement in AI should be measured by its impact on a country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

It is pertinent to note that last year, the centre constituted an advisory group to formulate a framework to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) in the country. The group comprised government officials, industry leaders, academicians and other stakeholders.

In January, the panel suggested sweeping reforms to the regulatory landscape to govern AI systems in the country and ensure the trustworthiness and accountability of such platforms.

Around the same time, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) introduced AI governance guidelines as part of itsINR 10,371.92 Cr IndiaAI Mission.

In October 2024, the union government selected eight strategic projects to promote responsible development, deployment and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the country under the IndiaAI Mission. These projects have been selected around several themes including machine unlearning, synthetic data generation, AI bias mitigation, ethical AI frameworks, privacy-enhancing tools, explainable AI, AI governance testing, and algorithm auditing tools.

India is home to more than 200 startups that have raised more than $1.2 Bn since 2020.