Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Thursday launched the AI Council of India (AICI), as a new representative entity within IAMAI to bring together policymakers, technology companies, AI startups, academia, investors, and other key stakeholders. This is the first Council of its nature that attempts to create a unified ecosystem for AI players in India.The AICI’s work will be anchored across three strategic focus areas: advancing Models, Research & Frontier AI, strengthening AI Infrastructure & Compute by expanding access to GPU clusters as well as reducing compute costs and driving Applied AI & Lean Innovation. This would allow scaling cost-effective, open-source-led AI solutions across healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, financial services, and education, sectors where India’s AI adoption significantly lags global benchmarks.Following IAMAI’s structure, the Council will have committees under them that will determine on focus areas for the larger body. These committees will consist of IAMAI members that have become part of the AI ecosystem in a significant way.While the AICI current has no agenda, it listed policy advocacy, eocsystem collaboration, talent development, AI reasearch and innnovation and global partnerships as strategic objectives.“We believe that ecosystem does not exist. People are working in silos. Somebody should set the strategic goal. That is where the ecosystem creation we have. We will go where the ecosystem takes us,” said Subho Roy, President of IAMAI and Chair of the AICI.Speaking at the launch, Adv. Ashish Shelar, Minister of Information Technology and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra, said, “The government of Maharashtra is not a passive observer to the AI revolution, but an active, engaged and committed participant, leveraging the power of AI. India is doing extraordinary work in artificial intelligence, and our start-ups are building world-class products. Our technology companies are deploying AI at a scale that few countries can match.”Neelkanth Mishra Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Executive Director-Designate, World Bank, said India needs to focus on a merit-based research ecosystem in the next 3 to 5 years to emerge in the AI ecosystem.“The moment you have high quality research happening at, say IIT or IISC or some of these technology institutes, it will build confidence of venture capitalists to invest in Indian startups,” said Mishra.As part of its long-term roadmap, the Council will launch the India AI Summit as India’s flagship annual gathering for the AI ecosystem and will establish a nationwide network of AICI AI Clubs across universities to build the next generation of AI-ready talent and leaders.Published on July 2, 2026