New Delhi [India], December 12: India has solidified its position as a leading center for machine learning (ML)-enabled scientific research, ranking third globally according to the ML Global Impact Report 2025 released by Marktechpost. The report, which analyzed over 5,000 ML-relevant scientific papers published in the Nature family of journals between January 1 and September 30, 2025, identifies India as a major contributor, trailing only behind China and the United States.
This rise is indicative of a robust network comprising universities, medical institutions, national laboratories, deep-tech startups, and AI research centers, all harnessing the power of ML to tackle some of the country’s most pressing scientific and societal issues. In this evolving scientific landscape, ML has become integral, driving innovation across critical sectors vital for national growth.
Indian researchers are increasingly utilizing established ML frameworks such as XGBoost, Transformers, ResNet, U-Net, YOLO, LightGBM, and CatBoost. These tools are being applied across a variety of impactful scientific domains, including medical imaging, cancer diagnostics, climate science, agricultural productivity, and disaster preparedness. Such applications underscore India’s commitment to practical and scalable ML research that aligns with national priorities.
While China leads in overall research output and the United States excels in disciplinary breadth, India’s trajectory in ML-driven science is notably steep. The report highlights that India’s scientific participation is growing exponentially, buoyed by interdisciplinary research clusters and increased investment in AI applications for health, agriculture, and climate resilience. Both Tier 1 and Tier 2 universities are playing significant roles in this expansion, alongside a burgeoning startup ecosystem that translates research into practical innovations.
Collaboration stands out as a hallmark of India’s scientific landscape. The majority of ML-enabled studies involve partnerships between two to fifteen institutions. These collaborations often extend across academia, medical institutions, computational labs, and industry, illustrating a wide-ranging integration into the global ML research community. Notably, India is forming significant international partnerships with the United States in health, genomics, and climate science, as well as with Saudi Arabia in materials science.
Despite the rising popularity of generative AI, the report reveals that India’s scientific advancements are primarily rooted in mature, conventional ML techniques. Classic methods, such as Random Forests and support vector machines (SVMs), account for nearly half of all ML applications globally, with these techniques remaining central to India’s scientific contributions. When combined with ensemble methods like GBM and XGBoost, traditional approaches represent over 75% of the ML techniques shaping research outputs, reinforcing India’s focus on delivering immediate, real-world impact.
India’s third-place ranking in the report emphasizes the country’s increasing significance in the global ML research ecosystem. The foundational tools driving this growth originate from various countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Russia. This collective influence highlights India’s active role in contributing to and benefiting from the broader ML innovation landscape.
Industry experts are optimistic about India’s trajectory. Dr. Geetha Manjunath, Founder and CEO of NIRAMAI Health Analytix, remarked on India’s achievements in ML-driven research, particularly in medical domains, as pivotal for future population health improvements. She cited NIRAMAI’s Thermalytix® platform as a prime example of how scientific research in ML is translating into accessible healthcare solutions, particularly in low-resource settings.
Asif Razzaq, Editor and Co-Founder of Marktechpost, noted that India’s capacity to apply machine learning across diverse scientific fields—from agriculture to health—demonstrates its commitment to substantial contributions to the global ML research community. The report underscores a significant trend: India has firmly established itself as a crucial player in the evolving landscape of ML-powered scientific research.
This ongoing evolution in India’s scientific output not only marks its growing influence but also sets the stage for future advancements that could further enhance its role in global scientific innovation.
