India has partnered with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as one of 10 pilot countries working to bridge the artificial intelligence (AI) gap across the Global South.
Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia announced the initiative while addressing the “AI for Good Lab Workshop: From Strategy to Impact” at India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 in New Delhi. The workshop was jointly organised by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the ITU.
Scindia said AI should be measured by the number of lives it improves rather than the size of its models or the sophistication of its algorithms.
India will contribute its experience in shared computing infrastructure, open datasets and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to support cross-regional learning and technical collaboration among Global South countries.
The workshop focused on developing a roadmap for institutional cooperation, identifying priority sectors for AI adoption and sharing knowledge. Participants also discussed AI Sandbox requirements to test solutions for fairness, robustness and safety before wider deployment.
The minister highlighted progress under the IndiaAI Mission, backed by an allocation exceeding ₹10,000 crore.
According to his address, more than 38,000 high-end GPUs have been onboarded at approximately one-third of the global average cost, with another 20,000 GPUs being added.
The AI Kosh platform is also making datasets and sovereign AI models available across sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and education.
Scindia further noted that India ranks first globally in relative AI skill penetration. Indian developers contribute approximately 5.2% of open-source AI projects on GitHub with at least 10 stars.
The minister highlighted Sanchar Saathi as an example of technology being used to address digital fraud and improve mobile security.
According to the figures cited in his address, the platform has helped disconnect more than 7.14 crore fraudulent mobile connections, trace over 35 lakh lost handsets and prevent potential financial fraud worth more than ₹5,000 crore.
India’s Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) has developed national standards covering AI fairness, robustness and incident reporting. It has also established a National Working Group on AI Standardisation to align Indian standards with ITU-T benchmarks.
The initiative comes amid concerns about unequal digital access. Scindia noted that nearly 2.2 billion people worldwide remain offline, warning that the digital divide must not become an AI divide.
