India is at an inflection point in its governance journey. The vast diversity of its people across regions, languages and socio-economic contexts makes the challenge of inclusion both complex and immense. While e-governance has expanded access to services, gaps remain in transparency, equity and citizen engagement. Moving forward requires governance systems that are intelligent, adaptive and citizen centric. Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the foundation of this transformation, with the ability to personalise services, anticipate needs and bring governance closer to the people.
Building on the broader Make in India agenda, the Government of India has advanced a vision of ‘Make AI in India, Make AI work for India.’ At the centre of this initiative is the India AI Mission1, backed by INR10,300 crore to create robust computing infrastructure and foster innovation across priority sectors.
One of its most transformative projects is BharatGen2, a multimodal large language model that can generate text, speech and image outputs across 22 Indian languages. By addressing the country’s linguistic diversity, BharatGen is designed to make digital governance accessible to citizens in their preferred language.
In parallel, AI Centres of Excellence3 are being established at state and departmental levels. These centres are expected to drive experimentation, build capabilities and support the deployment of AI solutions tailored to local challenges, helping ensure that innovation is relevant and inclusive.
AI is already being applied in ways that improve service delivery. In grievance management, AI platforms are analysing complaints, improving routing accuracy and reducing resolution times. In finance, the Aadhaar enabled payment system is leveraging AI driven fingerprint and facial recognition to detect and prevent fraud, safeguarding millions of digital transactions.
Healthcare provides a compelling illustration. eHealth AI units are partnering with AI Centres of Excellence to develop solutions for early screening, continuous follow up, disease surveillance, clinical decision support and capacity building of healthcare professionals. The e-Sanjeevani4 telemedicine platform now goes beyond remote consultations. Prescriptions are available in multiple Indian languages, and clinical conversations are transcribed and analysed for accuracy and compliance. Clinical Decision Support Systems5 integrated into the platform have standardised data from nearly 200 million consultations, with more than 12 million diagnoses enhanced through AI based recommendations.
Public health monitoring has also been strengthened. The Media Disease Surveillance5 platform has issued more than 4,500 alerts since 2022, giving authorities the ability to detect outbreaks early and respond more effectively.
The transformative potential of AI lies in creating systems that adapt to people rather than the other way around. Multilingual chatbots allow citizens to engage with portals in their mother tongue, breaking language barriers. AI powered voice assistants6 are enabling indigent citizens to access information and register grievances independently.
These innovations are already delivering results. In grievance redressal alone, AI tools have streamlined workflows across more than ninety 90+ departments7 and ministries and thousands of complaint categories, reducing delays and improving transparency. The outcomes are higher levels of trust and greater satisfaction among citizens.
The integration of AI into governance is not just about technology. It marks a shift from standardised service delivery to personalised engagement, from reactive responses to proactive interventions. AI provides governments the ability to sharpen policy design, ease administrative bottlenecks and improve the overall citizen experience.
As India strengthens its digital and data infrastructure, the opportunity is to build governance models that are efficient, transparent and inclusive. The ultimate test of success could be whether AI empowers those who have historically been excluded, ensuring that no community is left behind.
The way forward is through collaboration. Government can frame ethical and transparent guidelines for adoption, industry can bring innovation and scale, and civil society can keep citizen needs at the centre of design and delivery. Together, these efforts can redefine governance in India and demonstrate how technology can reinforce democracy at scale.
