By Shailesh Yadav

New Delhi [India], January 12 (ANI): India is strategically positioning itself to build robust AI infrastructure across the value chain, mirroring the success it achieved in the digital space, according to Ashish Aggarwal, Vice President of Public Policy at Nasscom.

Speaking to ANI ahead of the India AI Impact Summit, Aggarwal drew parallels between India's digital infrastructure revolution and its current AI ambitions. 'The same lens India is applying to build out its AI infrastructure layer,' he said, explaining that this encompasses making telecom networks AI-ready, ensuring the power ecosystem can support AI demands, and building indigenous AI capabilities across the entire value chain.

Aggarwal noted that India is already at the forefront of AI deployment and maintains a strong position in AI applications. 'From an industry point of view, we are already leading in the AI deployment space, and we are also very strong in the AI application space,' he said.

The country is seeing significant investment in data centres, while state governments are being asked to accurately estimate and project power demand. The focus is also on ensuring telecom infrastructure is robust enough to handle AI workloads.

'The second phase will see how we can use AI itself to optimise this infrastructure, whether it is in terms of power infrastructure, reliability, scale, optimisation, and similarly on the telecom side,' Aggarwal explained.

Looking ahead to the India AI Impact Summit, Aggarwal expressed optimism about showcasing Indian innovation on the global stage. 'India, as we believe, is a leader in frugal innovation, and we have seen a lot of that,' he said. 'Once we build for India and we can showcase for India, it is going to be definitely important for the world and most definitely for the global south.'

Addressing industry expectations in the Union Budget 2026, Aggarwal emphasised that policymaking has become a continuous cycle, citing the recent GST reforms as an example. Rather than seeking major concessions, the IT industry is focused on operational improvements.

'Given so much of investments are happening in the data centre space, we would like tax clarity on some rules around attribution of permanent establishment,' he said. Such clarification would significantly benefit the industry's growth trajectory.

The industry is also keen on promoting the expansion of Global Capability Centres in India. 'International taxation continues to be an area where we can do more simplification, more clarification and build more capacity so that assessments can be streamlined and made faster,' Aggarwal noted.

He praised the government's initiative on faceless assessments, which is now stabilising, and added that most industry recommendations focus on addressing operational challenges rather than seeking big-ticket concessions. (ANI)