New Delhi, April 16 India’s artificial intelligence (AI) roadmap should be built on the principles of affordability and accessibility, Ravi Shankar Prajapati, Joint Director at the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, said on Thursday.
He was delivering the keynote address at a policy roundtable titled “Roadmap for AI and Sustainability in India,” organised by Chintan Research Foundation in association with The Dialogue here.
Prajapati stressed that India’s AI ambitions are entering a decisive phase, with the country uniquely positioned due to its vast data generation capabilities.
However, he underlined that the future of AI in India will not be shaped solely by algorithms or applications, but also by the infrastructure that powers large-scale computation, including how it is designed, located, and sustained.
The discussion brought together policymakers, experts, and industry stakeholders to deliberate on aligning AI growth with sustainability goals. In his opening remarks, Dr. Debajit Palit, Centre Head at the Centre for Climate Change and Energy Transition at CRF, highlighted the need to strike a balance between energy and AI.
"India must create a “virtuous cycle” where AI supports energy efficiency and, in turn, energy systems sustainably support AI expansion," he stated.
Adding to the discussion, Shreeppriya Gopalakrishnan, DGM Policy at IndiaAI under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, emphasised that AI infrastructure should be viewed as an interconnected ecosystem.
She noted that it spans hardware, software, data, energy, and institutional frameworks, making it essential to adopt a holistic approach that bridges AI ambitions with real-world resource constraints.
Participants at the roundtable agreed that data centres and AI-ready computing capacity should be treated as strategic infrastructure rather than peripheral digital assets.
They highlighted that such infrastructure has far-reaching implications for energy systems, regional development, digital sovereignty, and long-term economic growth.
At the same time, experts pointed out several structural challenges that could shape India’s AI trajectory. These include the concentration of data centres in a few metropolitan cities, limited grid capacity, water stress, climate risks, and rising energy demand. Addressing these constraints will be crucial for scaling AI sustainably across the country.
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