Government Establishes AI Centers of Excellence with ₹1,490 Crore Budget
The Government of India has established four Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence with a total budget outlay of ₹1,490 crore as part of its "Make AI in India and Make AI work for India" vision. The initiative includes three centers announced in Union Budget 2023-24 focused on Agriculture, Sustainable Cities, and Healthcare with ₹990 crore allocation, and an additional center for Education announced in Union Budget 2025-26 with ₹500 crore allocation.
Institutional Leadership and Funding Distribution
The AI-CoEs are being led by IIT Ropar, IIT Kanpur, IISc Bangalore, and IIT Madras respectively. During the pilot phase in FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25, ₹27.00 crore was released to consortiums of institutions for competitive selection. In FY 2025-26 and 2026-27, specific allocations include ₹74.39 crore to IIT Kanpur, ₹62.64 crore to IIT Ropar, ₹69.07 crore to IISc Bengaluru, and ₹43.00 crore to IIT Madras.
Research Outputs and Domain Applications
The four AI-CoEs have published research and developed AI models in partnership with academic institutions, industry, and government organizations. The AI-CoE for Education has developed machine learning models for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Machine Translation (MT), and Text-to-Speech (TTS) supporting Indian languages. The AI-CoE for Agriculture has developed models for crop, pest, and disease identification, while the AI-CoE for Sustainable Cities has created models for air pollution attribution and urban flood prediction.
Governance and Monitoring Framework
Progress of the AI-CoEs is monitored through layered governance and financial monitoring mechanisms, including review by an Apex Committee comprising industry leaders and senior administrators. Each AI-CoE has constituted an independent Project Monitoring and Review Committee (PMRC) for tracking individual project progress. The Central Project Management Unit (CPMU) organizes periodic reviews by external domain experts that assess technology development progress against approved deliverables and financial utilization.
This information was formally disclosed by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on August 5, 2026.