India has unveiled a comprehensive, principle-based AI Governance Framework aimed at enabling safe, trusted and inclusive artificial intelligence innovation across sectors. The guidelines were released in November 2025, ahead of the AI Impact Summit 2026, with the objective of institutionalising a balanced and forward-looking approach that promotes innovation while safeguarding individuals and society.
What are the India AI Governance Guidelines?
The India AI Governance Guidelines provide a structured framework to guide the development, deployment and regulation of artificial intelligence systems in the country. Rather than imposing heavy ex-ante restrictions, the framework adopts a principle-based and techno-legal approach that builds on existing laws while addressing emerging risks.
The guidelines aim to ensure that AI adoption supports India’s broader developmental vision of inclusive growth, global competitiveness and the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047.
Why are the guidelines significant?
Artificial Intelligence is increasingly shaping governance, business and social life. With rapid adoption across sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education, manufacturing, climate action and digital services, the need for a coherent governance framework has become urgent.
India has already made significant progress in AI infrastructure and capacity building. Under the IndiaAI Mission, over 38,000 GPUs have been onboarded through a subsidised national compute facility. AIKosh hosts more than 9,500 datasets and 273 sectoral models. The National Supercomputing Mission has operationalised more than 40 petaflop systems, including AIRAWAT and PARAM Siddhi-AI. Capacity-building initiatives are supporting thousands of students and researchers, while AI Data Labs and IndiaAI Labs are expanding grassroots innovation.
The new governance guidelines consolidate these gains and provide institutional clarity for responsible scaling.
What is India’s AI governance philosophy?
The framework is rooted in the idea of “AI for All”. India’s approach combines sovereign capability with open innovation, leveraging public digital infrastructure, indigenous model development and affordable compute.
To develop the framework, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology constituted a drafting committee in July 2025. The committee examined existing laws, global developments and stakeholder feedback before presenting a four-part framework covering principles, recommendations, action plans and practical guidelines.
What are the seven guiding principles or Sutras?
The foundation of the framework rests on seven core principles:
Trust is the foundation. Trust must be embedded across the AI value chain, including technology, institutions, developers and users.
People first. AI systems must strengthen human agency and remain subject to meaningful human oversight wherever possible.
Innovation over restraint. Governance should enable innovation and socio-economic progress while managing risks proportionately.
Fairness and equity. AI systems should avoid bias and discrimination, particularly against marginalised communities, and promote inclusive development.
Accountability. Responsibility must be clearly assigned across developers, deployers and users based on function and risk.
Understandable by design. AI systems should incorporate transparency and explainability to the extent technically feasible.
Safety, resilience and sustainability. Systems must be robust, environmentally responsible and equipped with safeguards to minimise harm.
What are the key areas of reform?
The guidelines outline recommendations across six pillars: infrastructure, capacity building, policy and regulation, risk mitigation, accountability and institutions.
In infrastructure, the framework emphasises expanded compute access, improved data governance and integration of AI with Digital Public Infrastructure such as Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface, DigiLocker and Government e-Marketplace. Integrating AI with DPI is expected to enable scalable and inclusive public service delivery.
In capacity building, the focus is on expanding AI education, vocational skilling, grassroots labs in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and training government officials and law enforcement agencies to handle AI-enabled risks.
In policy and regulation, the approach builds on existing legal frameworks such as the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. Instead of creating an entirely new regulatory regime, the framework recommends reviewing regulatory gaps, introducing targeted amendments where required and using regulatory sandboxes to test emerging technologies.
How does the framework address risks?
AI systems can introduce risks such as misinformation, deepfakes, bias, cyberattacks and systemic vulnerabilities. The guidelines propose the development of an India-specific AI risk assessment and classification framework.
They also recommend establishing a national, federated AI incident reporting mechanism to systematically collect and analyse AI-related harms. Existing institutions such as the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre will continue to play key roles in cybersecurity and infrastructure protection.
Special emphasis is placed on protecting vulnerable groups, including children and women, from exploitative AI systems and synthetic content harms.
What institutional mechanisms are proposed?
To ensure a whole-of-government approach, the framework proposes new institutional structures.
An AI Governance Group will coordinate overall policy development and align AI governance with national priorities. A Technology and Policy Expert Committee will provide expert inputs on domestic and international AI issues. An AI Safety Institute will focus on safety research, standards development and technical validation.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will act as the nodal ministry, while NITI Aayog will continue to provide strategic vision and cross-sectoral coordination.
What is the action plan?
The action plan is phased across short, medium and long terms.
In the short term, the focus will be on establishing institutions, developing India-specific risk frameworks and preparing AI incident reporting mechanisms.
In the medium term, common standards on content authentication, data integrity, fairness and cybersecurity will be published. Regulatory sandboxes will be piloted and legal amendments introduced where necessary.
In the long term, India aims to create an agile, future-ready AI governance ecosystem, expand global engagement and contribute to international standards-setting.
What guidance is provided for industry and regulators?
For industry participants, the guidelines emphasise compliance with existing Indian laws, adoption of voluntary best practices, transparency reporting, grievance redressal mechanisms and the use of techno-legal tools such as privacy-enhancing technologies and algorithmic audits.
For regulators, the framework advises proportionate intervention, avoidance of compliance-heavy requirements unless necessary, and prioritisation of real and present harms. It also encourages flexible and adaptive policymaking informed by stakeholder feedback.
What does this mean for India’s AI future?
The India AI Governance Guidelines represent a pragmatic attempt to balance innovation and safeguards. By rooting AI governance in trust, inclusion and accountability, India aims to position itself not only as a leader in AI capability and adoption, but also as a responsible global voice in AI governance.
If effectively implemented, the framework could ensure that AI contributes meaningfully to economic transformation, social empowerment and the national aspiration of Viksit Bharat 2047, while protecting citizens from emerging technological risks.