TLDR: Analytics India Magazine has released its annual list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in AI in India for 2025’, recognizing individuals across policy, research, startups, big tech, and the social sector who are driving the nation’s artificial intelligence advancements. The compilation highlights their diverse contributions to fostering ethical, inclusive, and sovereign AI solutions, from developing indigenous large language models and semiconductor infrastructure to applying AI in critical areas like healthcare, agriculture, and governance.
On August 11, 2025, Analytics India Magazine unveiled its much-anticipated annual compilation, ‘India’s 100 Most Influential People in AI for 2025’. This meticulously curated list celebrates the trailblazers who are transforming the vision of artificial intelligence into tangible impact across the nation. The selection encompasses a wide spectrum of professionals, including scientists, researchers, startup founders, tech veterans, policymakers, public sector leaders, and even storytellers, all playing pivotal roles in shaping India’s engagement with AI.
The report emphasizes that these leaders are not merely building or leading projects, but are actively placing AI on the national agenda. Their work spans critical areas such as the development of sovereign Large Language Models (LLMs), the ambitious IndiaAI Mission, digital transactions, quantum and chip research, agentic AI, and its applications in diverse fields like film, music, healthcare, education, governance, and agriculture. Many on the list have also grappled with complex ethical questions surrounding fairness, accountability, privacy, and the societal role of automation, contributing significantly to moving these crucial conversations forward.
Key Influencers and Their Contributions:
Policymakers Driving National AI Strategy:
Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, is a prominent figure, spearheading India’s AI ambitions with global partnerships and the launch of a substantial ₹10,000-crore IndiaAI Mission, backed by over 18,000 GPUs. Under his leadership, India is committed to developing its own large language models to compete with global platforms. He also announced the IndiaAI Safety Institute in early 2024, focusing on ethical and safe model development. Vaishnaw championed ‘AI for all’ at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2025, emphasizing equity and transparency, and has invited OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to collaborate on building a local AI stack.
Abhishek Singh, CEO of the IndiaAI Mission and DG of the National Informatics Centre, is at the helm of India’s five-year, $1.2 billion AI strategy. He is responsible for securing over 10,000 GPUs, overseeing foundational model proposals, and building open-access platforms like AIKosh for data sharing and voice-based LLMs tailored for India’s diverse needs. Singh is deeply committed to responsible and inclusive AI, stressing accountability and public confidence.
Karnataka’s IT Minister, Priyank Kharge, has been instrumental in drafting and implementing one of the country’s most progressive AI policies. His leadership has fostered inclusive, ethical, and human-centered AI adoption, driving initiatives like the ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ project and launching India’s first center of excellence for artificial intelligence.
Researchers Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation:
Balaraman Ravindran, founding head of the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras, is a leading AI researcher with over 30 years of experience in machine learning. He has advised the Indian government, RBI, and the World Economic Forum on ethical AI deployment, particularly in sensitive domains like defense and public policy.
Mitesh M Khapra, head of the AI4Bharat Research Lab, is focused on advancing Indic AI to match English standards. His lab has built one of the world’s largest open-source datasets, supporting IndicTrans2, a translation model covering all 22 scheduled Indian languages, and is a key partner in India’s Bhashini Mission.
Urbasi Sinha, professor and head of the Quantum Information and Computing (QuIC) lab at the Raman Research Institute, is a driving force in India’s quantum revolution. She pioneered entangled and heralded single-photon sources and spearheaded India’s first satellite-based quantum communication project with ISRO, guiding the National Quantum Mission.
Startup Innovators Reshaping Industries:
Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO of Ola and Krutrim, is leading India’s shift towards self-reliant AI. Under his leadership, Krutrim launched ‘Kruti’, India’s first multilingual agentic AI assistant supporting over 13 Indian languages. He also unveiled plans for India’s first homegrown AI chips, Bodhi-1 by 2026, and a 1-GW data center by 2028, emphasizing building AI in Bhartiya languages rooted in local data.
Pratyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam AI, is building India’s full-stack generative AI ecosystem, developing foundational models like Sarvam2B and OpenHathi for Indian languages. Sarvam AI has been chosen by the IndiaAI Mission to lead the development of a sovereign LLM.
Pratik Desai, founder of Kissan AI, is transforming agriculture with generative AI. His KissanGPT is a breakthrough voice-based AI copilot supporting Indic languages for farmers, and the ‘Dhenu’ series comprises the world’s first agriculture-specific large language models.
Big Tech and IT Leaders Driving Digital Transformation:
Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, is a key figure in India’s digital transformation, leading strategic pushes into 5G, AI, and blockchain. He announced Jio’s collaboration with IIT Bombay to develop Bharat GPT, an indigenous large language model, and spearheaded a gigawatt-scale AI data center with NVIDIA GPUs.
Arundhati Bhattacharya, CEO of Salesforce India, views AI as India’s ‘fire’ capable of transforming everything, while also advocating for responsible oversight. Honored with the Padma Shri in January 2025, she has championed AI-powered CRM adoption and digital equity, stating AI can be ‘a social equalizer’.
Manish Gupta, Senior Director at Google DeepMind, is passionately committed to building inclusive and impactful AI. His team made pivotal contributions to Gemini 2.5 Flash and spearheaded IndicGenBench, a benchmark covering 29 Indian languages, ensuring AI works across India’s linguistic diversity.
Mass Media Figures Shaping Public Perception:
Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan has actively advocated for the ethical use of AI in the creative industry, expressing concerns about face mapping and digital cloning without consent. In 2023, he partnered with generative AI platform Ikonz, allowing fans to interact with his virtual avatar, pioneering the merge of celebrity and AI-driven customer experience.
Globally acclaimed composer AR Rahman became the first Indian composer to ethically use AI-generated voice models in a popular film song, ‘Thimiri Yezhuda’, recreating voices of late singers with consent and fair compensation. He described it as a ‘purposeful, ethical use of AI’, not a gimmick, and believes AI can empower under-resourced creators.
Filmmaker Kamal Haasan deepened his engagement with AI by completing a 45-day AI course in the US and visiting Perplexity AI’s headquarters. He views AI as a tool to enhance creativity, not replace it, and is interested in using AI to augment his film projects.
Also Read:
- India’s Ascent: From IT Hub to Global AI Powerhouse
- Generative AI Propels India’s Next Wave of Application Modernization and Digital Transformation
This comprehensive list underscores India’s burgeoning role in the global AI landscape, driven by individuals who are not only innovating technologically but also ensuring that AI development is rooted in ethical considerations, social impact, and national self-reliance.
