Building inclusive intelligence: How women are redefining India’s AI future

As conversations on AI and digital transformation intensify worldwide, India’s AI journey is drawing global attention for its scale and innovation. The more critical question now is whether this growth will be inclusive and shaped by the full diversity of the people it aims to serve.

At the recently concluded Second Asia Pacific E-commerce Policy Summit, leaders and practitioners from across the region reiterated that the digital economy’s next leap hinges not just on women’s participation but on their ability to influence and design the technologies redefining work, markets and governance.

This momentum has carried forward into the lead-up to the India AI Impact Summit 2026, where inclusivity has been positioned as a core pillar. The recognition is simple but profound: AI systems are only as fair, effective and representative as the people who build them. Women’s talent, insights, lived experiences and leadership are central to building AI that reflects the realities of India’s diverse communities. This direction aligns with ongoing discussions at the India AI Impact Summit, where “AI for Her” has emerged as a lens to ensure women are involved in shaping how AI is built, deployed and evaluated.

India has made clear progress in expanding pathways for women in AI, with government and industry efforts now focussed on capability and leadership development. AI Kiran, which engages more than 10,000 women, is positioning women as innovators and decision-makers across sectors such as healthcare, education and climate technology. The AI Careers for Women initiative shows how participation grows when training is industry-aligned and linked to real job pathways. A four-fold rise in women’s enrolment in AI and ML (machine learning) programmes within a year points to early shifts in the pipeline. CURIE AI labs, PRAGATI and Saraswati scholarships, and corporate partnerships that build hands-on skills in model development and data work are reinforcing this momentum and strengthening women’s presence across the research, design and development layers of the AI ecosystem.

While this progress is encouraging, many women still navigate constraints such as limited time, mobility barriers and fewer pathways into advanced technical roles. The ecosystem is expanding in promising ways, but women’s participation continues to evolve within a landscape that has uneven access points and opportunities. Representation thins at senior levels and within AI entrepreneurship, where women-founded startups remain fewer in number. Yet these patterns do not undercut the substantial gains underway; instead, they indicate where the next wave of effort must focus—on smoother progression, wider leadership pathways and stronger institutional support so that women who enter the system are well positioned to grow, lead and innovate.

There is also plenty burgeoning entrepreneurial ambition. A growing network of women-focussed accelerators, incubators and early-stage funding programmes—bolstered by government mechanisms like CGTMSE credit guarantees, targeted procurement via WEMART, state livelihood missions and NRLM market-linkage support—is empowering women founders to transform AI skills into real-world innovation. Together, skilling initiatives, policy-backed credit pathways and enterprise support are steadily expanding the pipeline of women-led AI ventures.

Additionally, there are meaningful signals of change. Recent global assessments, including the Stanford AI Index, show that Indian women have one of the highest AI skill penetration rates in the world. This suggests that investments in skilling are beginning to take hold and that India’s talent pipeline is deepening in ways that can strengthen long-term competitiveness.

When women participate across the AI stack—from datasets to design to deployment—technology becomes more contextual, more equitable and more aligned with India’s development priorities.

This is where India’s broader AI ecosystem will matter as much as infrastructure. Beyond digital rails, sustained progress will depend on how effectively institutions, markets and organisations create pathways for women to move from participation to influence. This includes targeted access to growth capital for women-led AI ventures, procurement and pilot opportunities that allow women founders to test and scale solutions, and organisational practices that support retention and advancement into senior technical and product roles. Equally important are governance and design choices, such as gender-balanced datasets, participatory testing and leadership diversity in AI teams, which shape how systems behave in real-world contexts. Together, these levers determine whether women remain users at the margins of AI adoption or become architects of the technologies that will underpin India’s next phase of economic growth.

These shifts matter for India’s economic trajectory as much as for inclusion. AI’s contribution to growth will depend on how effectively the ecosystem draws on the full workforce. Women’s economic participation, long central to India’s development, cannot remain disconnected from its technological transition. An AI-powered economy requires an AI-skilled and AI-leading female workforce.

Women also strengthen India’s competitive edge. Their participation improves model accuracy, reduces bias, expands scarce talent pools and is already shaping AI solutions in areas such as climate, agriculture and public health.

India now stands at a pivotal moment. The foundations for women’s participation in AI are in place. The next phase lies in enabling progression into advanced technical and leadership roles, improving access to growth capital and recognising the invisible labour that sustains AI systems. If India succeeds, it will help define what inclusive and trustworthy AI looks like globally. Placing women at the centre of this vision is not a social aspiration, but a sound economic and technological choice.

(The author is a social impact leader, and has worked with leading global and Indian philanthropic institutions and think tanks, including the Gates Foundation, OECD Development Centre, Dasra, and the Administrative Staff College of India. She is also a board member in multiple social impact organisations. Views are personal.)