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India Adopts Hands-Off AI Governance to Boost Innovation
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, or MeitY, has announced the India AI Guidelines, marking a deliberately hands-off approach to the regulation of artificial intelligence. The new framework aims to strike a balance between innovation and safeguards, replacing the earlier, high-risk draft released for consultation in January 2025.
Drafted by a committee led by Prof Balaraman Ravindran of IIT Madras, the guidelines reframe India’s AI governance strategy from control to enablement. “We are calling this the AI Governance Guidelines, not AI regulation, because we don’t want it to be seen as something that throttles AI adoption,” said Ravindran.
How do These New Guidelines differ from Previous Drafts?
Unlike the previous draft, which spoke of reducing risks, the revised guidelines are directed at promoting ‘innovation with guardrails.’ They depart from regulatory templates inspired by NITI Aayog and the OECD, moving toward a framework guided by India’s socio-economic priorities.
The document outlines seven core principles: trust, people-centricity, responsible innovation, equity, accountability, the understandability of large language models, and safety, resilience, and sustainability.
MeitY Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh said the guidelines would serve as ‘a cornerstone in developing AI for India’ and could ‘be a role model for AI governance globally.’
Does the Government Get a New AI Law?
There has been speculation about the possibility of a specific AI law. However, officials gave an assurance that this is not in the offing. “Legislation would be required at a later stage, but it will depend on the emerging risks and capabilities,” IT Secretary S Krishnan explained. “As and when there’s an urgent need, the government will act swiftly.”
The guidelines are separate from the proposed amendment to the IT Rules, 2021, which would require labelling of AI-generated content on social media platforms. That proposal remains at the public consultation stage.
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What are the Key Recommendations?
This report extends beyond the seven principles to include six recommendations for expanding access to AI infrastructure. This includes leveraging DPIs like Aadhaar for inclusion, and increasing AI-related skills and capacity.
It also recommends the establishment of ‘key governance institutions’ in the short term, India-specific risk frameworks, and AI safety tools. The release of the guidelines is part of the government’s run-up to the Delhi AI Impact Summit 2026, establishing India as a global thought leader in ‘responsible yet enabling’ AI governance.
