During the Union Budget 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled several breakthrough projects aimed at accelerating India’s progress in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep tech innovation.
A noteworthy highlight was the disbursement of Rs 500 crore to establish a new Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for Education, emphasizing the government’s stated goal of incorporating artificial intelligence into the national learning environment.
Rs 500 Crores AI Center for Education
Sitharaman said while delivering the Lok Sabha Union Budget 2025, “I had declared in 2023 three centers of excellence in artificial intelligence for sustainable cities, health, and agriculture.” With an overall budget of Rs 500 crores, a center of excellence in artificial intelligence for education will be established now.”
The new AI center will concentrate on promoting creativity in the digital learning field, improving research, creating educational tools driven by AI, and therefore engaging on digital learning field. The project should improve the caliber of education, make students ready for a technology-led future, and increase access.
National Excellence Centers of Training
Trying to improve skill development, the finance minister also proposed five National Centres of Excellence for Skilling. In cooperation with worldwide partners, these centers will be established to support India’s &’Make for India, Make for the World&039; manufacturing vision.
Sitharaman said these centers would be created using worldwide agreements to help Make for the World, Make for India industry. The centers will concentrate on creating industry applicable courses, training coaches, establishing a structured skill certification system, and providing frequent evaluations.
Union Budget 2025: AI in India
The budget announcement comes just days after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed key recommendations for India’s first in-house large language model (LLM), similar to ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Moreover, the minister confidently stated that the AI model is expected to be completed within the next ten months.
India currently has 18,600 high-performance units in artificial intelligence infrastructure, well exceeding its initial aim of 10,000 GPUs. Among the models mentioned are the top-tier NVIDIA H100 and H200, as well as the MI325 series.
China’s DeepSeek AI was trained using 2,500 GPUs to contrast with OpenAI’s ChatGPT needing 25,000.
Vaishnaw underlined how this infrastructure would help India become a global artificial intelligence superpower. He noted: “This infrastructure will be crucial to the nation’s AI goal, as it will enable the building of models capable of challenging the top.” Being created to fit the linguistic and cultural diversity in India, the AI model guarantees inclusivity and availability.
Deep Tech Fund of Funds will Advance Bestirms
Another major budget highlight was the decision of the government to investigate a Deep Tech Fund of Funds meant to spur next-generation startups. Expectedly, this project will give financial support to creative tech-driven businesses, thereby nurturing entrepreneurship and fortifying the deep tech system of India.
India is rapidly progressing toward becoming a global leader in technology, thanks to these strategic investments in artificial intelligence, skilling, and deep technology. By laying a strong foundation for AI-powered education, workforce upskilling, and advanced research, the budget is effectively shaping a digital-first future.
