India has ascended to third place in the Stanford University’s 2025 Global AI Vibrancy Tool, based on 2024 data, marking a significant rise from seventh place just a year ago. With a score of 21.59, India now trails only the United States at 78.6 and China at 36.95, illustrating its rapid emergence as a major global player in AI innovation, talent, and policy.
The Stanford Global AI Vibrancy Tool serves as an online dashboard that ranks countries according to the activity and competitiveness of their AI ecosystems. The evaluation spans seven pillars: research, talent, economy, policy, infrastructure, responsible AI, and public opinion. India’s rise from seventh, surpassing advanced economies like South Korea and the United Kingdom, is notable.
Several factors have contributed to India’s rapid ascent in the rankings, including a robust policy push, a thriving startup ecosystem, and a substantial pool of AI talent. This confluence resulted in broad enhancements across multiple pillars, such as improved research output, increased AI-related economic activity, and more robust infrastructure. Notably, reports indicate that India benefited from “renewed major initiatives” aimed at strengthening its AI position, allowing it to overtake several advanced economies.
The vibrancy of India’s AI landscape is closely tied to its fast-growing startup and enterprise ecosystem, which implement AI across various sectors including finance, healthcare, education, and logistics. The country’s expansive digital markets and dynamic businesses position it as one of the most competitive AI economies among emerging markets.
On the talent front, India is recognized as a global powerhouse. It recorded the world’s highest year-on-year growth in AI hiring and emerged as the second-largest contributor to AI-related GitHub projects in 2024. The country ranks near the top globally in AI skill penetration, demonstrating the strength of its engineering workforce.
Although India still trails the US and China in absolute terms, it has shown marked improvement in AI publications and patenting—critical indicators of research and development. Data from Stanford’s AI Index suggests India is swiftly increasing its research output, positioning itself as a strategic development hub, particularly through collaborations between academia and industry.
A significant contributor to this transformation is the IndiaAI Mission, which was endorsed by the Union Cabinet with a substantial budget of around Rs 10,300–10,372 crore (approximately USD 1.25 billion) over five years. Key initiatives within the mission include the deployment of over 10,000 GPUs for computational capacity, the development of a national non-personal data platform, and the establishment of a framework for “safe and trusted” AI. These efforts have directly bolstered India’s standing in the policy, governance, and infrastructure domains.
Despite this high ranking, analysts highlight several areas where India continues to lag. These include the need for cutting-edge AI research and globally recognized foundational models, lower levels of high-value private investments compared to the US and China, challenges related to data quality and advanced R&D capacity, and a greater focus on responsible AI regulation and inclusive access beyond major urban centers.
This third-place ranking signals that India is now one of the world’s most competitive AI powers and the clear leader among lower- and middle-income countries. However, it also underscores the substantial gap between India and the US and China in frontier capabilities. Experts believe that if India maintains its investment in infrastructure, intensifies its focus on research and innovation, and reinforces ethical and inclusive AI governance, its AI growth rate could accelerate significantly over the coming decade.
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Published By:
Apoorva Anand
Published On:
Dec 15, 2025
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