Budget 2019: National Centre for Artificial Intelligence to come up soon

NEW DELHI: In order to bring the benefits of artificial intelligence and related technologies to the common people, a national centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) will soon be established, announced Piyush Goyal, Union Finance Minister, while presenting Interim Budget 2019.

“India has become the second largest startup hub of the world. We are proud of the hard work and innovative ideas of our youth in this sector. A national programme on AI has been envisaged by the government. This should be catalysed by the national centre for artificial intelligence as a hub, along with other centres of excellence”, Goyal said.

To actualise the ambitious initiative, the Central Government has identified nine priority areas, and the national portal on AI will be developed soon. Union Minister said, adding compliance procedures and regulatory bottlenecks concerning startups are also being currently looked into.


“The new scheme on AI is a futuristic scheme, which may promote use of technology and digitisation,” says Gulzar Didwania, Director , Deloitte India.

Goyal added that thanks to country’s startup ecosystem, jobs are no longer being created in traditional factories and job seekers have become job creators.

Addressing Parliament, Goyal said that through the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, over 1 crore youth are being trained to help them earn a livelihood. "Youth power has been harnessed through self-employment schemes including MUDRA, Startup India and Stand-up India. With job seekers becoming job creators, India has become the world’s second largest startup hub. The government is proud of the hard work and innovative ideas of our youth," he said.