Industry leaders in artificial intelligence and related technologies have welcomed Budget 2026–27 as a turning point for India’s digital economy, praising measures they say move the conversation from abstract promise to practical deployment. According to the mediabrief report, executives highlighted initiatives such as National Compute Credits, a DeepTech fund and a newly formed high-powered committee to study the impact of emerging technologies on jobs and services as signals that the government intends to scale infrastructure and coordinate policy for broad-based adoption. Speaking to MediaBrief, Vivek Bhargava, Co-Founder, Consumer.ai, said: "The real value of AI will come not from replacing human judgment, but from grounding it in observable reality and using it to make smarter choices at scale." (Business Standard, Economic Times).

Industry reaction focused on supply-side enablers that address longstanding bottlenecks in compute, data and skills. The budget’s National Compute Credits and the ₹1 lakh crore DeepTech fund were singled out as steps to ease infrastructure constraints for model development and deployment, while tax incentives for data centres and safe-harbour provisions aim to spur large-scale AI training capacity. Industry commentary framed these moves as complementary to the IndiaAI mission and earlier allocations that significantly expanded subsidised GPU access. (Economic Times, Voicendata).

The government’s commitment to human capital was another recurring theme in industry responses. The Budget reaffirms large-scale skilling and education initiatives, including a proposed network of AI labs and technology fellowships at premier institutions intended to create a pipeline of AI-ready talent and personalised learning opportunities for school and college students. Abhishek Razdan, Co-founder and CEO of Avtr Meta Labs, told MediaBrief that a dedicated committee to assess AI’s impact on jobs and skills "signals stronger support for adoption across sectors" and will help align training with enterprise needs. (Entrepreneur, Business Standard).

Several executives framed the Budget as recognising AI and other frontier technologies as national infrastructure rather than niche tools. Observers pointed to the formalisation of national AI and quantum missions, and to regional projects such as the proposed Amaravati Quantum Valley, as evidence of a strategic push to anchor India in the global race for advanced compute and quantum capability. Industry leaders said these initiatives could boost the services sector’s competitiveness and help India pursue an ambitious share of global services exports. (Wikipedia, Amaravati Quantum Valley, Economic Times).

Voices from startups and specialist firms emphasised the need for culturally attuned and inclusive AI systems alongside hardware and finance. Vivek Desai, Co-Founder and Chairman at ImeUsWe, told MediaBrief that "AI can help preserve and organise this complexity, but only if it is grounded in cultural understanding and responsibility." Executives also welcomed bespoke solutions such as multilingual AI tools for agriculture as examples of how technology can deliver grassroots benefits beyond urban, English-language applications. (MediaBrief, Voicendata).

Not all observers regard the measures as definitive; some analysts argue that funding and institutional plans will need sustained follow-through to match global private-sector investment and the scale of ambition. Earlier coverage noted large year-on-year increases in IndiaAI funding and rapid expansion of GPU availability, yet warned that further resource mobilisation and industry–academia collaboration will be required to convert policy intent into durable competitive advantage. For now, industry reaction in the wake of Budget 2026–27 is largely optimistic, framing the package as a pragmatic mix of infrastructure, skilling and regulatory attention intended to accelerate adoption and bolster India’s digital services ecosystem. (Voicendata, Business Today, Business Standard).

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Source: Noah Wire Services