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NEW DELHI: The government will release a draft consultation paper on Artificial Intelligence (AI) regulations within the next 30 days, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw announced.
The paper is expected to form the foundation for a techno-legal framework covering AI safety, ethics, a human-first approach, skilling, inclusivity and measures to restrict potential harms.
Simultaneously, the government has initiated long-term procurement of 10,000 AI graphics processing units (GPUs) with assured usage for up to five years to strengthen domestic compute capacity.
Focus of the Upcoming Consultation Paper
Speaking at an event in New Delhi, Vaishnaw said the consultation paper will address key aspects of AI governance. “We have always maintained that AI cannot be regulated by just having a law. We have to take a techno-legal approach and bring such solutions. A bulk of these regulations will have to be undertaken by the industry,” he stated.
The framework is intended to promote safe and responsible AI development while ensuring benefits reach all sections of society. India currently lacks a dedicated AI law, with most governance of AI tools and services falling under the Information Technology Act, 2000, and related rules.
An inter-ministerial Artificial Intelligence Governance and Economic Group was constituted earlier to coordinate policy across ministries and sectoral regulators.
To ensure safe and defined use of AI in public services, the government plans to empanel a select number of startups and companies. Only these empanelled entities will be permitted to bid for AI projects floated by central and state government departments.
Expanding GPU Capacity with Five-Year Assurance
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has floated a request for empanelment for the long-term procurement of 10,000 AI GPUs. Of these, approximately 3,000 GPUs are intended for direct government use, while the remaining 7,000 will be open for bidding by companies.
The five-year usage guarantee is designed to provide commercial certainty to suppliers and ensure reliable access to high-performance computing.
Under the ₹10,372-crore IndiaAI Mission, more than 38,000 GPUs have already been onboarded through earlier bidding rounds. With the additional 10,000 units, the total national GPU capacity is projected to exceed 50,000.
Push for Homegrown GPU Solutions
Vaishnaw also indicated progress on developing indigenous GPUs, particularly for AI inference workloads. “That roadmap looks visible to us now. In the coming months, we will share that roadmap. In three to four years, we will have solutions for GPUs that can do inference,” he said.
The dual announcements reflect India’s dual-track approach of building regulatory clarity alongside sovereign AI compute infrastructure.
The consultation paper is expected to invite stakeholder inputs before the government finalises its AI governance framework.
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