India is poised to embark on a transformative journey, exporting not merely software prowess but a new kind of value – intelligence.
This will extend beyond software talent and SaaS licensing to encompass industrial-grade AI models, autonomous agents, and digital decision-making systems poised to optimize key sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, logistics, finance, and public services.
Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2025 – India Perspective elucidates that India is on the brink of what the consultancy designates the AI factory era, where artificial intelligence transforms into an infrastructural mainstay and intelligence morphs into a distinct product category targeted for both domestic utility and international markets.
The Architecture of an Invisible Industrial Revolution
Contrary to the traditional factories that exhibit visible machinery, AI factories operate under the radar. Their raw materials consist of datasets, GPUs, and domain expertise, with cognition serving as their ultimate output. Engineers, mathematicians, and linguists constitute this new industrial workforce.
Deloitte outlines three pivotal shifts propelling this transition.
First, through the government’s IndiaAI Mission, an investment exceeding ₹10,370 crore is allocated to enhancing computational and data platforms, providing access to over 18,000 GPUs at globally competitive prices (approximately $1/hour).
Secondly, collaborations with semiconductor manufacturers from Taiwan, Japan, and the United States are laying the hardware foundation necessary for accelerated model training and inference on a large scale.
Lastly, more than 1,800 Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are now functioning as embedded R&D hubs for multinational corporations, establishing a solid base for AI initiatives in sectors including BFSI, telecom, healthcare, automotive, and manufacturing.
Collectively, these advancements cultivate a fertile environment for startups to develop downstream applications and services.
Startups and the Shift from Abstract AI to Applied Intelligence
India’s competitive edge in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is unlikely to arise from constructing the largest models.
Deloitte observes a significant shift towards Small Language Models (SLMs) and vernacular AI specifically adapted for real-world applications in BFSI, healthcare, and public services.
This directional pivot cultivates promising opportunities for entrepreneurs focusing on:
- logistics optimization
- financial compliance & credit automation
- healthcare diagnostics & triage
- agricultural decision support
- industrial digital twins
- agentic co-pilots for operations
Deloitte identifies agentic AI as a burgeoning category, currently undergoing trials in logistics, BFSI, education, and disaster response scenarios.
These applications transcend conventional chat interfaces, functioning as operational systems that render decisions.
The abundance of talent remains a strategic asset. Deloitte cites over 650,000 AI-skilled professionals, bolstered by GCCs, academic institutions, and enterprise demands, validating India’s robust AI workforce.
This alignment of talent with industrial requirements directly benefits the startup ecosystem.
2026: The Transition to Deployment as India’s Advantage
Deloitte posits 2025 as the foundational year for scaling AI factory infrastructure. However, the more nuanced opportunity emerges in 2026, when the focus shifts downstream from model development to deployment and commercialization.
As computational capabilities, semiconductor supplies, and datasets mature, the differentiation will hinge on distribution.
Here, India boasts a unique advantage, equipped with public digital infrastructure such as UPI, ONDC, Account Aggregator, DigiYatra, and ABDM, which facilitates ecosystem-wide AI adoption.
In this context, India’s AI factories are destined to produce not only cognition but also empower startups to translate cognition into tangible productivity:
- reduced operational costs
- accelerated decision-making cycles
- enhanced yield
- superior risk management
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) — representing approximately 30% of GDP and nearly 45% of exports — represent a considerable yet under-digitized landscape for the adoption of such applied AI solutions.
Deloitte emphasizes that data is the missing element, particularly in healthcare, agriculture, education, and SME workflows. The IndiaAI datasets platform aims to address this deficiency by fostering structured data availability at scale.
Should these components align, India stands on the precipice of a significant transition from coding exports to commercializing cognition — a strategic evolution reminiscent of the emergence of SaaS.
Source link: Tice.news.
