Business Software Alliance: AI could add USD $500 billion to India
The Business Software Alliance has set out a policy agenda for accelerating enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in India, outlining its assessment of economic benefits and key steps for industry and government. The organisation forecasts that enhanced AI uptake could increase India's economy by more than USD $500 billion over the next decade.
Economic potential
BSA estimates that measures to boost AI adoption in India could contribute an additional USD $500-600 billion to the country's GDP by 2035. This aligns with targets in the government's Viksit Bharat initiative and findings of the NITI Aayog's 'AI for Viksit Bharat' report. Gains are expected through productivity improvements, efficiency in operations and shifting labour toward higher-value activities.
"Accelerating AI adoption across industries means adding over $500 billion to India's economy over the next decade and achieving the goals and vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047," said Victoria Espinel, Chief Executive Officer, Business Software Alliance.
Talent development
The agenda places emphasis on expanding the skills base necessary for broad enterprise AI deployment. It calls for scaling up national AI training academies, such as those hosted at Indian Institutes of Technology and National Institutes of Technology, and developing a national AI curriculum in collaboration with industry and public agencies. Further recommendations include extending the IndiaAI FutureSkills programme to cover more sector-specific content, and launching innovation hubs led by global enterprise firms to reinforce the country's AI talent pipeline.
Infrastructure and data
BSA recommends widespread government adoption of AI systems, alongside a modernisation of procurement policies and support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in adopting AI tools. The plan advocates increased investment in cloud and connectivity infrastructure, and wider access to high-value but non-sensitive government datasets. In addition, BSA urges changes to India's copyright regime with a text and data mining exception, and the removal of restrictions on cross-border data transfers, to better support enterprise AI.
AI governance
The group also highlights the need for a coordinated regulatory approach. It proposes adoption of a whole-of-government strategy for AI policy, drawing from recommendations made by the Subcommittee on AI Governance and Guidelines Development. The new agenda suggests aligning the Digital Personal Data Protection Act to enable responsible processing of data for AI model training and promoting trusted AI use cases in cybersecurity. Establishing open, industry-supported standards for authentication and provenance of content is also recommended.
"BSA's recommendations to accelerate AI adoption in India are based on real-world feedback from industry leaders about the opportunities for India, as well as the challenges for industry to address in partnership with the government," said Espinel.
Industry and government alignment
"BSA AI Pre-Summit Forum as an official Pre-Summit Event of the AI Impact Summit 2026 brought together government leaders, industry experts, BSA members and key stakeholders to explore how enterprise AI can transform governance, fuel innovation, and build an inclusive digital future for India. We commend Prime Minister Modi for his leadership in hosting the AI Impact Summit and look forward to joining him there." said Espinel.
