Bridging the AI gap: Can India catch up with China?

While China has built a strong foundation in AI research, establishing DeepSeek, India is taking a different route—focusing on monetizable applications rather than deep-tech innovation. Industry experts argue that while this approach may yield short-term gains, India is still behind China and the US in critical areas like infrastructure, funding, and research, all essential for long-term AI leadership.

China’s AI ecosystem is significantly more advanced than India’s, with an evident gap across factors like hardware, funding, research, and institutional support, shared Jaspreet Bindra, Co-founder, of AI&Beyond.

“While the US leads AI, China follows closely, leaving countries like the UK, France, and India far behind. China’s deep investment in AI research, particularly through its universities, has given it a massive edge. When it comes to patents and research publications, China has even surpassed the US in some areas,” he said.

Bindra continued, “Comparing India and China in terms of AI is unfair. China has built a strong foundation in core AI research, while India has largely focused on monetizable services. Unlike China, India has not prioritised deep-tech research, which is critical for long-term AI leadership.”

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Naresh Singh, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, said, “For any activity, results don’t come overnight. DeepSeek has been investing in AI model development since mid-2023. The Chinese AI model providers, the government, and its large cloud providers have been working on LLM models since 2016. To achieve success in AI, the government, think tanks, academia, and other key stakeholders must get their act together. Relatively, India has been quite slow in this regard, although we have begun accelerating now.” 

The Indian government has allocated ₹10,300 crores to the India AI mission, which has culminated in the first tranche of RFPs for putting the infrastructure required in place. 

Nilesh Thakker, President of Zinnov, explained that while India is making rapid strides in AI, developing a DeepSeek-equivalent needs more than access to high-performance GPUs, requiring a full ecosystem that nurtures innovation.

“Simply acquiring GPUs won’t lead to groundbreaking AI applications. Without the right talent and a supportive environment fostering creativity and research, even the best hardware will be ineffective. The real challenge lies in bridging the gap between world-class talent and the infrastructure required to support large-scale AI models. While investments are growing, largescale funding—often in the billions—remains scarce.”

Currently, India spends five times less than the US and four times less than China on AI infrastructure, including compute power, data centres, and research, he said. While private players are investing in AI, foundation models require substantial, long-term funding and a coordinated approach.

As Indian enterprises increase their investments and government initiatives like AI4Bharat gain momentum, the foundation for building competitive AI models is being set, Thakker shared.

“India is making strides to leverage its AI potential, but for true innovation to flourish, the ecosystem needs to evolve further. This requires a strategic combination of policy investment, infrastructure development, and fostering the right talent. With these foundational elements in place, India can unlock the full power of its AI capabilities and build a robust ecosystem that drives sustained growth.”