Artificial Intelligence in India
The objective of AI systems is to tackle complex problems in ways similar to human logic and reasoning. AI is an over-arching concept that encompasses multiple (usually overlapping) disciplines.
AI is the most significant general purpose technology of our times. We can now build systems that are capable of self-improvement by learning from data over time.
In India, the top industry sectors for governance remain agriculture (the backbone of the economy), healthcare and education.
By application, the top applications of AI in the Indian market are — automation of business processes, Chat Bots, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Image recognition.
With the IT and ITeS services sector in India contributing to about 7.7% of the national GDP, the government has recently announced a national program on AI focussed on research. Both the tech executives and start-up founders agree that the Government of India remains the largest potential customer for data science services in the country.
The current focus areas for AI applications in India can be summarized as below:
1. Precision Agriculture — A proof of concept pilot has been initiated in 15 districts in India to use AI and cognitive technologies driven real-time advisories based on satellite imagery and data to boost the output of farm production.
2. Healthcare — This is a sector which is under tremendous stress in India due to a large population and relatively few resources. In domains such as Pathology and Radiology, AI is expected to make major inroads in augmenting productivity of existing facilities through tech such as Image recognition. AI models could also help in early diagnosis of diabetic and cardiac risks.
3. The Indian Languages Project — With 22 major languages and several dialects spoken throughout the country, this is a major aspirational project underlined by the government to build a complete natural language processing platform for Indian languages.
Let’s have a look at some of the top VC’s driving India’s AI growth story:
1. Pi Ventures — An early stage venture fund based out of Bengaluru and launched by Manish Singhal and Umakant Soni, the organization aims to support organizations leveraging ML, AI and IoT. In a short time, they have carved up a niche with funding around 13 AI and ML focussed start-ups. Current investments include FrontdeskAI, which develops AI assistant for
smaller enterprises usually for the wellness and fitness sectors and raised $2 million in funds.
2. Sequoia India — It’s a VC that specializes all across the board in terms of stage of investment, and invests $100k — $1 million in seed stage, between $1 million — $10 million in early stage, and between $10 million — $100 million in growth stage companies. It has led as many as 305 investments, and has supported Vue.AI and Mad Street Den to name a few.
3. Blume Ventures — The VC fund, though not particularly AI or ML focussed, has backed several deep-tech and AI start-ups over the years. Since inception, they have funded over 120 start-ups, and around 10 of them being deep tech start-ups. Their portfolio includes GreyOrange, Carbon Clean Solutions, Tookitaki, Systemantics, Tartan Sense, Ethereal Machine, Agaralabs, Zenatix, Locus.sh and Tricog.
4. Kaalari Capital — An early stage tech focussed VC firm, they have led as many as 55 investments over the years. Notable investments include Active.ai ($500 billion along with IDG Venture capital) which provides a tech platform for the BFSI sector. They also have a cohort programme called Kstart, where they aim to invest in 8 start-ups working in the field
of AI and deep tech.
5. Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Venture Capital) — The VC fund focuses on tech entrepreneurs and handhold them in evolving businesses. With a significant number of their investments in the field of AI and ML, some notable investments include FlipKart and Myntra, Brainbees (FirstCry.com), Zivame, NestAway etc.
India has an abundance of engineering talent, which is set to dominate the data sciences industry. Deep and long standing technology ties with USA, and democratic culture are catalysts in India’s rise as an AI superpower. It may very well be the democratic and cultural values that create the case for a India’s ascent in the AI field as compared to China. It is very well the human factors and values that will bring India to prominence in this field, and India’s soft power will work to it’s advantage. Let’s also factor in the Indian diaspora that is contributing to the knowledge base of AI. Forming that bridge between Indian expats abroad and domestic efforts will be another advantage for India.
And with the country rapidly moving towards digitisation, the 3 million plus strong IT workforce is definitely an asset if trained in the right way to implement a culture of cognitive computing. However, a roadblock in the path to AI enabled industry, is the big disconnect between the country’s industry with academia. This has led to staggered AI fluency in comparison to say, the US or Europe. With a close knit relationship between the industry and academia, and one that is backed by the administration, the AI market in India is all set to explode. And India is poised to dominate the AI Industry!
