Less than 50% of the IndiaAI Mission’s allocated budget was utilised in FY26, highlighting execution challenges in India’s national artificial intelligence programme.
India’s flagship IndiaAI Mission has spent less than half of its allocated outlay in FY26, according to budget data, raising questions about the pace of execution behind the country’s ambitious AI plans.
The programme is intended to support AI research, infrastructure, talent development, and public-sector adoption — areas seen as critical to India’s long-term competitiveness.
Why spending lag matters to IndiaAI
Underutilisation does not necessarily mean policy failure, but it does signal friction. Large-scale AI initiatives often face delays due to:
- Procurement complexity
- Coordination across ministries
- Talent and infrastructure bottlenecks
For policymakers, the challenge is balancing oversight with speed in a fast-moving technology landscape.
A contrast with India’s ambition
The slow spend stands in contrast to India’s increasingly bold AI rhetoric, including proposals to attract global AI workloads and build national compute capacity.
Whether the IndiaAI Mission accelerates in subsequent years will be closely watched by industry and investors as a test of India’s ability to translate policy ambition into execution.
