PSA white paper outlines strategy to democratize AI infrastructure access

This is a white paper issued by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, dated December 29, 2025, that examines the policy priorities for democratizing access to AI infrastructure (compute, datasets, and models) in India. It matters to citizens as it outlines the government's strategic approach to making AI resources widely available and affordable, treating them as shared public utilities rather than proprietary assets.

Who it concerns: The document concerns the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, the broader AI ecosystem stakeholders, innovators, and the general public who are intended to benefit from equitable access to AI infrastructure, datasets, and compute resources.

What the document says

• The document defines 'democratising access to AI infrastructure' as making compute, datasets, and model ecosystems available and affordable for a wide set of users.
• It identifies three key enablers for this goal: expanding access to high-quality datasets, providing affordable and reliable access to computing resources, and integrating AI with Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
• The paper proposes treating the building blocks of AI systems (data, compute, models) as Digital Public Goods (DPGs) or shared public utilities, such as open data repositories and subsidised compute clouds.
• It notes that India hosts nearly 20% of the world's data but only 3% of global data centre capacity, with installed capacity expected to grow from 960 MW to 9.2 GW by 2030.
• The document highlights existing government initiatives including the IndiaAI Mission (which includes a 3,000 GPU cluster and the IndiaAIKosh repository), the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), and the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM).
• As of December 2025, the IndiaAIKosh platform has onboarded 5,722 datasets and 251 AI models from 54 entities across 20 sectors.

Also in the document

• The document explicitly states that the views presented are explanatory and do not necessarily reflect the formal policy positions of the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser.
• Mumbai and Navi Mumbai account for over 25% of India's live data centre capacity, attributed to its dense subsea cable network.
• The paper references the 'IndiaAI Governance Guidelines' report, which emphasizes the importance of AI governance strategy for greater adoption.
• The document mentions that the India Semiconductor Mission is backed by an investment of Rs. 76,000 crore and has approved 10 advanced chip-making projects.