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New Delhi, Oct 22 (KNN) Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), Government of India, launched three key publications under the AI for India 2030 initiative, led by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) India, World Economic Forum (WEF). The publications Future Farming in India: AI Playbook for Agriculture, Transforming Small Businesses: An AI Playbook for India’s SMEs, and Shaping the AI Sandbox Ecosystem for the Intelligent Age: White Paper aim to accelerate responsible and inclusive AI adoption across India’s priority sectors. Developed under the guidance of Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (OPSA) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the AI for India 2030 initiative is driven by a multi-stakeholder advisory council to position responsible, scalable, and inclusive AI at the centre of India’s digital transformation. Sood emphasised that the playbooks represent a grassroots transformation framework, ensuring technological progress translates into real benefits for farmers, entrepreneurs, and communities. The Future Farming in India playbook outlines strategies to scale AI adoption among millions of farmers to enhance yields, manage risks, and improve market access through the IMPACT AI framework. This model promotes collaboration among policymakers, innovators, and front-line workers, using local networks and languages to make AI tools more accessible. The Transforming Small Businesses playbook provides a roadmap for strengthening India’s MSME ecosystem through AI-driven productivity gains, improved credit access, and enhanced market reach. It proposes a cluster-based implementation model and an AI maturity index to help small businesses progress from awareness to adoption. The AI Sandbox White Paper presents a framework for establishing controlled environments to test and scale AI technologies securely and responsibly, aligning innovation with India’s strategic priorities. S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY highlighted that the playbooks offer actionable blueprints for sectoral transformation, while Das (MSME) noted that the MSME-focused roadmap provides timely guidance for scaling AI-led innovation. Dr. Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, OPSA added that the upcoming International S&T Clusters Conference in December 2025 will further advance these goals by integrating AI-focused discussions within India’s science and technology ecosystem. Looking ahead, the roadmap emphasises coordinated implementation through coalitions involving state governments, industry bodies, technology providers, and financial institutions. These partnerships will translate playbook insights into pilot and funded projects across agriculture and SME clusters. A unified monitoring framework will measure progress based on AI adoption rates, productivity gains, and improved credit and market outcomes. A dedicated national knowledge platform will also capture and share best practices, fostering continuous learning and scaling of responsible AI solutions across India’s innovation ecosystem. (KNN Bureau)
