KPMG: ‘AI for Bharat’ can unlock $1.7 trillion by 2035, powering India’s next growth leap

India’s technology story is entering a decisive new chapter. According to a research report by KPMG in India, titled Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Bharat: Innovation and Inclusion at Scale, estimates that AI-led transformation could generate nearly $1.7 trillion in economic value by 2035, positioning the country as one of the world’s most scalable and cost-efficient innovation ecosystems.

The study argues that India has moved beyond early-stage experimentation. Enterprises are embedding AI into core operations, customer journeys and product design — mirroring, and in some cases, outpacing global trends. Over 70% of Indian organisations surveyed report having a clear, enterprise-wide AI strategy aligned with business goals.

Earlier, a 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.

Digital public infrastructure as a force multiplier

At the heart of India’s advantage lies its digital public infrastructure. Platforms such as the Unified Payments Interface, Aadhaar, DigiLocker and eSanjeevani demonstrate how population-scale systems can serve as launchpads for intelligent automation and data-driven services.

With billions of digital transactions and verified identities forming a structured data backbone, India offers fertile ground for deploying AI solutions across finance, healthcare, retail and governance at scale.

Talent, compute and a cost-efficient model

India’s AI workforce has more than tripled since 2016 and now represents a significant share of the global AI talent pool. Complementing this is the government-backed IndiaAI Mission, which has empanelled 38,000 GPUs to expand affordable compute access for startups and researchers.

Notably, the report highlights India’s emphasis on smaller, domain-specific language models suited to multilingual and low-connectivity environments. Initiatives such as BHASHINI — which has processed over 4 billion multilingual inferences — reflect a push toward inclusion-led innovation rather than frontier-scale expansion.

From adoption to global leadership

With over $1.1 billion in public commitments, expanding data centre capacity and a thriving startup ecosystem, India’s approach blends scale with accessibility. The report concludes that if governance frameworks evolve in tandem with deployment, the country is well-positioned to convert digital strength into long-term economic leadership — accelerating its journey toward Viksit Bharat 2047.