India’s Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has formally launched the India AI Governance Guidelines under the IndiaAI Mission to promote safe, inclusive, and responsible use of artificial intelligence across sectors. The initiative was unveiled by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, in the presence of MeitY Secretary S Krishnan, Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh and other senior officials.
The newly released framework identifies human-centric development as its core objective and emphasises the principle of “Do No Harm” as foundational to its approach. It sets out four key components: seven guiding principles (or sutras) for ethical AI, recommendations across six governance pillars, an action plan spanning short, medium and long-term timelines, and practical guidelines for industry, developers and regulators.
MeitY Secretary S Krishnan stated that the government intends to leverage existing legislation wherever possible and ensure that artificial intelligence serves humanity, benefits people’s lives and addresses potential risks. Professor Sood noted that the guidelines also envisage innovation sandboxes and flexible regulatory ecosystems to enable experimentation while ensuring risk mitigation.
The framework was drafted by a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Professor Balaraman Ravindran of IIT Madras and included representatives from academia, industry and policy such as Microsoft Research India, NITI Aayog, iSpirit Foundation and Trilegal. The committee engaged in extensive stakeholder consultation and reviewed inputs through a public consultation process.
Alongside the guidelines, the IndiaAI Mission announced winners of its recent Mineral-Targeting Hackathon organised with the Geological Survey of India. The first-prize team received ₹10 lakh for their AI-driven solution for critical mineral mapping, followed by second and third prizes, and a special award for semi-unsupervised adaptive resource discovery. The hackathon winners underscore the government’s intent to merge AI innovation with geoscience and resource exploration.
The unveiling carries strategic significance ahead of the India-AI Impact Summit scheduled for February 2026 in New Delhi, which will bring together global leaders, industry representatives, researchers and regulators to deliberate on the transformative role of artificial intelligence in driving people-centric growth, sustainable practices and progress.
Observers note that the guidelines aim to establish a foundational reference point for India’s AI ecosystem. The inclusion of sectors such as critical minerals and public infrastructure alongside mainstream commercial applications signals the breadth of ambition. The governance-pillars approach is expected to guide policymaking, sectoral regulation and enterprise practices in a coordinated manner.
For industry and developers the framework presents clear signalling: transparency, accountability, risk assessment and human-centred design are set to become central evaluation criteria. Enterprises deploying AI will need to demonstrate adherence to the set principles, monitor bias, ensure data quality, safeguard privacy and deploy mechanisms for audit and reporting. The action-timeline component suggests incremental compliance milestones for short, medium and long-term delivery.
Stakeholders in the startup and innovation ecosystem view the guidelines as a necessary infrastructure layer for AI adoption at scale. The reference to innovation sandboxes highlights the government’s willingness to support controlled experimentation, especially in emerging technology segments, before full-scale deployment. Such an environment can help Indian AI firms test applications, scale responsibly and gain regulatory clarity.
At the same time, implementation challenges remain. Translating high-level principles into operational workflows, ensuring uniform adoption across sectors, aligning state-level regulatory practices and monitoring real-world outcomes will require coordinated effort. The success of sandboxes and audit frameworks will depend on resourcing, governance capacity and inter-agency collaboration.
From a global perspective the guidelines contribute to India’s positioning as a serious player in AI governance. As countries develop their own frameworks, India’s emphasis on inclusive growth, human-centric AI, and domestic innovation stands out. The upcoming India-AI Impact Summit will provide a platform for showcasing national capabilities, regulatory leadership and sector-tailored innovation.
In summary, the launch of the India AI Governance Guidelines under the IndiaAI Mission marks a pivotal step in the nation’s artificial-intelligence strategy. With defined principles, governance pillars, action timelines and industry guidance, the framework sets the stage for AI deployment that is responsible, scalable and aligned with societal objectives. As the India-AI ecosystem grows, the coming months will test how effectively these policies are operationalised and how innovation is balanced with accountability.