Vaishnaw Rejects IMF’s ‘Second-Tier AI Power’ Tag for India
Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday strongly opposed the International Monetary Fund’s classification of India as a “second-tier” AI power, asserting that global assessments place the country firmly among the leading AI nations.
Responding to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva’s remarks at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Vaishnaw questioned the basis of the IMF’s classification and cited independent benchmarks to support India’s position. He cited the Stanford assessment, which ranked India third globally in AI readiness and among the top countries in AI talent.
“I don’t know what the IMF criteria are, but Stanford ranks India third in terms of AI readiness and penetration and second in terms of AI talent. I don’t think the classification of India in the second group is correct. India is clearly in the first group,” Vaishnaw said on the sidelines of the WEF.
The Minister underlined that India’s AI strategy focuses on widespread adoption rather than just building large-scale models. He said the government is prioritizing broad-based deployment of AI across sectors to maximize real-world impact and economic returns.
Explaining India’s approach, Vaishnaw said AI capabilities should be evaluated across five layers of the technology architecture – applications, models, chips, infrastructure and energy. According to him, India is actively building capacity in all these layers and making steady progress in each of them.
He highlighted India’s strength in the application layer and stated that Indian companies are well positioned to deliver AI-driven solutions for global businesses. “We will probably be the largest service provider in the world at the application layer,” he said, adding that meaningful investment returns will come from using AI to solve business problems rather than building extremely large models.
Vaishnaw also emphasized that scale alone does not determine value, noting that most practical use cases can be addressed using medium-sized AI models. He attributed India’s AI momentum to its broader economic growth, describing the country as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
These remarks come amid a growing global debate over AI leadership, governance and capability, as governments and institutions seek to position themselves in the rapidly evolving technology landscape.
