WEF, GoI launch AI playbooks for SMEs and agriculture

New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI) The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with the Government of India, on Wednesday launched AI playbooks for SMEs and agriculture as well as an AI sandbox white paper to accelerate responsible AI adoption in the country.

Developed with support from professional services partner BCG X, these publications offer actionable frameworks, sectoral roadmaps, and ecosystem models to harness AI responsibly, inclusively, and at scale in India, the WEF said.

The playbooks highlight AI's potential to improve productivity, unlock finance, and enhance market access and have been designed through extensive consultations, site visits, field workshops and analysing a multitude of on-ground pilot projects with entrepreneurs, policymakers, industry leaders, technology providers, and academic institutions.

The World Economic Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) India collaborated with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (PSA to GOI) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for these publications under the AI for India 2030 initiative.

'Future Farming in India', the AI playbook for agriculture, provides an actionable roadmap to bridge the gap between AI's potential and real-world impact for millions of farmers.

It introduces a comprehensive strategy for scaling artificial intelligence to enhance crop yields, mitigate climate and pest risks, and improve market access.

'Transforming Small Businesses', the AI playbook for SMEs in India, provides a strategic roadmap to address key challenges of productivity, access to formal credit, and market reach by democratising AI.

It introduces a structured, cluster-based approach to adoption, featuring real-world case studies and a clear framework for implementation.

Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) form the backbone of India's economy, contributing 30 per cent to GDP, employing over 23 crore people, and accounting for nearly half of the country's exports.

The AI Sandbox White Paper presents a two-part framework – strategic and operational to be actioned through a collaborative structure of the government, industry and startup ecosystem to establish secure, controlled environments for developing and testing AI solutions.

Sandboxes address critical gaps in data access, compute infrastructure, model validation, and market pathways de-risking adoption for both developers and end users.

Together, the three publications lay out practical roadmaps and frameworks that can help India harness AI responsibly and inclusively in key sectors, while driving innovation at speed and scale, the WEF said.

Principal Scientific Advisor Ajay Sood said India's AI journey must be defined by how deeply it transforms lives at the last mile.

"From empowering farmers with data-driven insights to enabling small enterprises to compete globally, the true promise of AI will be realised only when innovation translates into widespread adoption," he said.

Sood said the AI Playbooks highlight how the government, industry, and academia can work together to ensure that every breakthrough delivers real impact — for our economy, our communities, and our citizens.

WEF Managing Director Jeremy Jurgens said India's drive to integrate AI into agriculture and small business is a significant opportunity for economic transformation.

"These playbooks provide the crucial framework to turn potential into action, uniting government, industry, and innovators. Together, we can ensure AI becomes a tool for empowerment, closing divides and creating a future where technology serves humanity at scale," he added.

BCG's Managing Director and Partner Gaurav Jindal said AI delivers impact when it is usable, affordable, and trusted.

"Together, these reports chart a clear path for India from pilots to scaled adoption — with playbooks that empower farmers to make smarter decisions, enable MSMEs to boost productivity and competitiveness, and a sandbox framework that ensures innovation is safe, validated, and responsible," he said.

"The result is broad-based, inclusive growth — where every farmer, entrepreneur, and innovator can benefit from AI's potential to strengthen India’s economy, ensure inclusive growth, and drive global competitiveness," Jindal said.

The WEF said C4IR India in collaboration with the central government, industry, startups and research institutions would now focus on convening state governments, agritech companies, and financiers to turn the playbook's roadmaps into funded, on-ground projects.

They will also establish a robust monitoring mechanism to track KPIs (key performance indicators), such as AI-enabled advisories, input cost reduction, yield enhancement, and improved price realisation.

The AI for India 2030 initiative was launched in January 2024 under the chairmanship of PSA Ajay Sood and MeitY Secretary S Krishnan.

An apex Advisory Council consisting of leaders from the government (including state governments), industry (NASSCOM, Microsoft, Amazon, Mahindra, Infosys, HCL, Reliance, Nvidia, etc), not-for-profits (Wadhwani AI, ISPIRT), academia (IIT-Madras) and startups (Haptik AI, and Sarvam AI).

The initiative aims to delve into the strategic implications of AI across various industries and sectors and co-design essential blueprints, and anticipatory governance mechanisms to contribute to a globally harmonised understanding of responsible AI. PTI BJ SHW