Maharashtra Govt Planning To Draft AI Policy Soon

The Maharashtra government is looking to draft its independent artificial intelligence (AI) policy soon as a part of its effort to position itself as a major player in this segment, said state IT minister Ashish Shelar.

The minister directed the authorities to draft the state’s first independent AI policy, during a meeting conducted with IT department officials on Tuesday (December 31), ET reported, citing an official statement. 

During the meeting, Shelar emphasised on the importance of leveraging AI to attract business, create jobs and boost industries.

“By adopting AI, we can drive economic growth, generate jobs for the youth, and strengthen our position in the global AI landscape,” he said.

The meeting was attended by IT department secretary Parrag Jaiin Nainutia and MahaIT managing director Jayshree Bhoj, among other senior officials from the department. 

This comes at a time when the central government is aggressively taking steps to position India as a leading AI player globally.

Earlier in 2024, the union cabinet approved the IndiaAI Mission with an allocation of INR 10,372 Cr over the course of next five years. Back then, the government said that the funds will be used to foster innovation in the homegrown AI ecosystem and implement the Mission’s vision via a public-private partnership (PPP) model.

A few days back, the government opened a second round of bids for its India AI Mission, focusing on areas like watermarking and labelling, ethical AI and risk assessment.

In the previous round, the central government invited bids from Indian academic institutions, R&D organisations, companies, and startups engaged in areas such as machine unlearning, synthetic data generation, AI bias mitigation and more.

Besides Maharashtra, Telangana and Kerala are also actively participating in establishing their positions in the AI ecosystem. 

In July last year, Kerala announced its plan to draft  a dedicated AI policy, complying with the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) goals during the ongoing fiscal year. Under this policy the government aims to provide support and incentives to polish the existing infrastructure and build an efficient AI ecosystem.  

Additionally, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) announced preferential share capital investment of up to INR 5 Cr for AI entities with a minimum investment of INR 10 Cr.

On the other hand, Telangana government signed 26 memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with private players, including academic institutions, big tech companies, startups, and non-profit organisations to establish the state as an AI superpower in the country.

India is currently home to more than 100 generative AI startups. As per Inc42’s report, the Indian AI startups have raised more than $600 Mn in funding since 2019.