AI adoption, R&D must for 8% plus growth to achieve Viksit Bharat goals: NITI Aayog report

As India moves closer to realise its Viksit Bharat @ 2047 goal, a recent NITI Aayog report has emphasised the role artificial intelligence (AI) and research and development (R&D) will play in giving 8% GDP growth rate to India.

The report ‘AI for Viksit Bharat’ unveiled on Monday revealed that AI adoption is expected to add over $1–1.4 trillion to India’s GDP by 2035, helping bridge the gap to achieve the $8.3 trillion GDP target. Without AI, the GDP growth rate is expected to be just at 5.7%, when for Viksit Bharat, the rate must be 8% or more.

The report identified three levers in this process. AI adoption distributed distinctly across industries is expected to bridge a third of the trillion-dollar gap.

“Higher output, lower costs of goods and services, and improved access for underserved markets. These effects are expected to materialise across both domestic consumption and export markets,” the report stated.

Further, the Generative AI implementation in R&D is set to contribute to 20–30% of the enhanced GDP, as this is set to accelerate innovation, paving way for faster commercialisation of the research, thus strengthening competitiveness.

Meanwhile, the third lever will be the innovation in technology services that will add 15-20% to the trillion-dollar GDP gap, as this will lead to future-proofed jobs and build higher-value business models.

However, for this to happen, the report underlines the various means including infrastructure, governance, workforce and academia upskilling.