Daily Editorial Analysis 31 July 2026

The Next DPI — How India Can Commoditise AI 

Context

• India has emerged as a global leader in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) by integrating Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and DEPA/Account Aggregator into an interoperable ecosystem.
• Unlike countries that excel in individual digital systems, India has combined digital identity, payments, and data-sharing at an unprecedented scale.
• The next step is to extend this model to Artificial Intelligence (AI) by making intelligence a foundational public utility that is affordable, accessible, and interoperable.

India’s Digital Public Infrastructure Success Story

• India’s DPI has transformed governance and financial inclusion through Aadhaar, which has enrolled over 1.4 billion people and enabled low-cost digital identity verification.
• UPI has revolutionised payments by processing nearly 20 billion monthly transactions at minimal cost.
• Between 2016 and 2019, affordable mobile data connected nearly 500 million Indians, accelerating digital inclusion, Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs), startups, e-commerce, and digital governance.
• India’s success lies in creating competitive digital markets supported by strong public infrastructure rather than direct subsidies.

Artificial Intelligence as the Fourth Digital Public Infrastructure

• AI is becoming the next essential infrastructure after identity, payments, and data.
• Instead of competing with global technology giants in expensive AI model training, India should focus on making AI inference inexpensive and widely accessible.
• The objective is to reduce the cost of using AI through public infrastructure, enabling innovation across education, healthcare, agriculture, governance, and industry.

India’s Unequal Position in the Global AI Economy

• India contributes significantly to the global AI ecosystem through its engineering talent, researchers, multilingual data, and data annotation workforce.
• However, Indian start-ups depend heavily on costly foreign AI models and proprietary APIs, making them vulnerable to external pricing and policy decisions.
• This resembles the historical pattern of exporting raw materials while importing high-value finished products.
• India must move from being a supplier of AI inputs to becoming a producer of AI capabilities.

Building India’s National AI Token Economy

• Affordable Compute Infrastructure

  • The IndiaAI Mission, with an allocation of around ₹10,372 crores, seeks to build AI infrastructure through public-private partnerships.
  • More than 38,000 GPUs have been on boarded, with a target of 1,00,000 GPUs, providing subsidised compute access to startups and researchers.
  • AI infrastructure should also be integrated into the National Electricity Plan, supported by renewable and nuclear energy to ensure reliable, low-cost power for data centres.

• Open-Source Foundation Models

  • Affordable computing must be complemented by open-source Large Language Models (LLMs).
  • India should utilise anonymised public datasets such as legal judgments, agricultural information, and educational content in all 22 Scheduled Languages to develop indigenous AI models.
  • AI systems created using public funding should be released under open-weights licences, encouraging innovation while reducing dependence on proprietary foreign platforms.

• Unified Intelligence Interface (UII)

  • India should establish a Unified Intelligence Interface (UII) based on the principles of UPI.
  • A common AI API gateway would provide interoperability, identity verification, consent management, billing, and safety standards.
  • Government agencies, educational institutions, start-ups, and businesses could access multiple AI services through a single platform, reducing costs and encouraging competition.

AI Token Entitlements for Inclusive Growth

• A national freemium AI model could provide free monthly AI tokens to verified students, researchers, and startups through Aadhaar authentication.
• Larger enterprises could pay commercial rates, creating a sustainable funding model.
• AI support for schools, research institutions, and public services would accelerate innovation and reduce barriers to technology adoption.

Socio-Economic Benefits of Near-Free Intelligence

• Affordable AI can significantly improve healthcare, education, agriculture, MSMEs, and governance.
• AI-assisted healthcare can expand medical access, personalised tutoring can benefit millions of students, multilingual AI can assist farmers in accessing government services, and small businesses can utilise AI for accounting, marketing, and compliance.
• AI-powered governance can further enhance efficient citizen service delivery.

Challenges

• Key challenges include high infrastructure costs, dependence on imported semiconductor technologies, data privacy, cybersecurity, algorithmic bias, responsible AI governance, and sustainable financing.
• Addressing these issues is essential for developing secure, inclusive, and trustworthy AI infrastructure.

Way Forward

• India should expand the IndiaAI Mission, promote open-source AI, invest in AI-specific energy infrastructure, develop Indic AI models.
• Also, India should establish the Unified Intelligence Interface, strengthen AI governance under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and encourage collaboration among government, academia, startups, and industry.

Conclusion

• India’s success with Digital Public Infrastructure demonstrates how public digital goods can reduce costs and expand participation.
• Extending this model to AI can democratise intelligence through affordable compute, open-source models, AI token entitlements, and a Unified Intelligence Interface.
• By making intelligence widely accessible, India can strengthen technological sovereignty, develop innovation, and ensure that AI becomes a powerful engine of inclusive economic and social development rather than a privilege available only to a few.

The Next DPI — How India Can Commoditise AI FAQs

Q1. Why is India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) considered unique?
Ans. India’s DPI uniquely integrates Aadhaar, UPI, and DEPA into an interoperable digital ecosystem.

Q2. Why should India focus on AI inference instead of AI model training?
Ans. AI inference is less capital-intensive and can make AI services affordable and widely accessible.

Q3. What is the objective of the IndiaAI Mission?
Ans. The IndiaAI Mission aims to provide affordable compute infrastructure and promote indigenous AI innovation.

Q4. What is the proposed Unified Intelligence Interface (UII)?
Ans. The UII is an interoperable AI platform that enables seamless access to multiple AI models through a common API.

Q5. How can affordable AI benefit India?
Ans. Affordable AI can improve healthcare, education, agriculture, MSMEs, and public service delivery by making intelligence accessible to everyone.

Source: The Hindu

The Bay of Bengal as India’s SHANTI Anchor 

Context

• The Bay of Bengal has emerged as a strategic centre of the Indo-Pacific, linking South Asia, Southeast Asia, and major global trade and energy routes.
• Alongside increasing geopolitical competition, the region faces climate-induced disasters, illegal fishing, cyber threats, marine pollution, and supply chain disruptions.
• These transnational challenges require regional cooperation rather than unilateral responses.
• India’s SHANTI (Securing Holistic Advancement through Norms, Trust and Integrity) initiative seeks to establish a rules-based, trust-driven framework for maritime governance.

Why the Bay of Bengal Matters?

• Historically, the Bay connected civilizations through commerce and cultural exchange.
• Today, it is central to India’s Act East Policy, provides access to the strategic Malacca Strait, and connects the eastern Indian Ocean with global maritime routes.
• China’s expanding regional presence, driven by its Malacca Dilemma, has intensified strategic competition.
• Consequently, the Bay has become a vital arena where maritime security, economic connectivity, and regional governance converge.

Need for SHANTI

• Despite growing maritime capabilities, the region lacks common norms, coordinated institutions, and collective mechanisms to address shared challenges.
• Countries face similar concerns, including disaster risk reduction, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, coastal erosion, undersea cable protection, Blue Economy development, and climate adaptation.
• Since these issues transcend national boundaries, they require coordinated regional action based on cooperation and mutual trust.

Evolution of India’s Maritime Vision

• SAGAR (2015) introduced the vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region, promoting inclusive maritime cooperation and equitable development.
• MAHASAGAR (2025) expanded this vision to the wider Indo-Pacific and the Global South, recognising the interconnected nature of maritime security.
• SHANTI (2026) provides the operational framework built on Norms, Trust, and Integrity.
• It shifts the focus from military competition to demand-driven cooperation, institution-building, long-term resilience, and governance of the shared maritime commons.
• Together, these initiatives position India as a preferred security partner and first responder in the region.

Bay of Bengal as the Ideal Laboratory

• The Bay of Bengal is well suited for implementing SHANTI because it is relatively cooperative compared to the conflict-prone western Indian Ocean.
• Its littoral states share common environmental, economic, and security challenges, while institutions such as BIMSTEC already provide a foundation for collaboration.
• Rather than creating new organisations, SHANTI aims to strengthen coordination among existing mechanisms, with India acting as a regional convener through regional stewardship instead of dominance.

From Principles to Practice

• Progress towards implementing SHANTI is already visible.
• At the 2026 BIMSTEC National Security Advisers’ Meeting, member states adopted common principles for maritime law enforcement and HADR.
• And they agreed to conduct the first joint maritime security exercise in November 2026, and continued discussions on a White Shipping Information Sharing Agreement.
• These initiatives strengthen maritime domain awareness, build confidence, and promote rules-based cooperation across the Bay.

Benefits and Challenges

• SHANTI can strengthen maritime governance, improve disaster preparedness, enhance climate resilience, safeguard critical maritime infrastructure, promote the Blue Economy, and deepen trust among regional partners.
• However, challenges remain, including strategic rivalry among major powers, institutional fragmentation, varying national priorities, limited financial and technological capacities, and the need to ensure that India’s leadership remains inclusive and non-hegemonic.

Way Forward

• India should institutionalise regular BIMSTEC maritime exercises, expand maritime information-sharing networks.
• Additionally, India should establish regional disaster response mechanisms, promote joint Blue Economy projects, strengthen environmental protection.
• There is a need to build capacity among smaller littoral states, and encourage rules-based maritime governance consistent with international law.

Conclusion

• The Bay of Bengal is a shared maritime commons whose future depends on cooperation rather than competition.
• Through SHANTI, India seeks to promote Norms, Trust, Integrity, Resilience, and Shared Responsibility as the foundation of regional security.
• If implemented effectively through institutions such as BIMSTEC, SHANTI can transform the Bay into a model of cooperative maritime governance for the wider Indo-Pacific, advancing a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based maritime order.

The Bay of Bengal as India’s SHANTI Anchor FAQs

Q1. What is the primary objective of the SHANTI initiative?
Ans. The SHANTI initiative aims to promote norms, trust, and integrity for cooperative maritime governance in the Bay of Bengal and the wider Indo-Pacific.

Q2. Why is the Bay of Bengal strategically important for India?
Ans. The Bay of Bengal connects India’s Act East Policy with ASEAN, provides access to the Malacca Strait, and links major global trade and energy routes.

Q3. How does SHANTI differ from SAGAR and MAHASAGAR?
Ans. While SAGAR provides the vision and MAHASAGAR expands its scope, SHANTI establishes the principles for implementing maritime cooperation through rules-based governance.

Q4. What role does BIMSTEC play in implementing SHANTI?
Ans. BIMSTEC promotes SHANTI by facilitating joint maritime exercises, maritime law enforcement cooperation, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief initiatives.

Q5. What is the long-term significance of SHANTI?
Ans. SHANTI seeks to transform maritime security from deterrence and rivalry to resilience, shared responsibility, and cooperative governance of the maritime commons.

Source: The Hindu

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