New Delhi, 3 February 2023 – Education Budget 2023 – Experts have hailed the government’s decision to set up three centres of excellence (COE) for artificial intelligence (AI) at leading educational institutions.
“The initiative has been taken in a bid to realise the vision of ‘Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the Union Budget for 2023–24.
The minister announced that top business leaders would work together to:
- Conduct multidisciplinary research
- Develop cutting-edge software
- Identify workable solutions to problems in sustainable urban planning, health, and agriculture
This will help build a strong AI ecosystem and bring the brightest professionals into the field.
Industry experts deem the government’s push to promote AI to be a bold move.
Education Budget 2023 – AI Centres of Excellence – Benefits
- Sandeep Dutta, Chief Practice Officer for the APAC region at AI firm Fractal, said that the initiative would promote innovation in the realm of AI while creating solutions and fundamentally reinventing areas such as agriculture and health.
- Additionally, according to Dutta, the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0, which aims to educate youth about cutting-edge fields like coding, AI, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT), will aid in the development of a talent pool for the industry and the Indian economy.
Education Budget 2023 – AI to Transform Healthcare
Experts have also praised the government’s plan to use AI to improve access to high-quality healthcare.
- Namit Chugh, Investment Lead at W Health Ventures, appreciated the decision to set up three COEs for AI. He said that AI tools were improving accuracy, speed, and early diagnosis of diseases.
- AI chatbots can also be utilised as the first line of treatment for mental health disorders.
- India is now better prepared than ever to turn AI in healthcare into a trillion-dollar opportunity as a consequence of this step, Chugh added.
Education Budget 2023 – Focus on AI Positive Sign for Tech Industry
- According to Amit Chadha, CEO and MD at L&T Technology Services, the government’s emphasis on advancing digital infrastructure and adoption is encouraging for the technology sector.
- The National Data Governance Bill’s introduction, the development of three AI COEs, 100 5G labs, and other initiatives would create numerous opportunities for business expansion and job creation, Chadha said.
- Such widespread support for digital innovation and transformation would help the Indian engineering and technology sector reach its full potential, he added.
Artificial Intelligence – India Emerges as a Global AI Hub
According to a NASSCOM report from June 2022:
- AI investments in India rose at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8% to reach $881 million in 2021.
- The adoption of AI combined with a data utilisation strategy might boost India’s GDP by $500 billion by 2025.
According to a Bain & Capital report from June 2022:
- As one of the top producers of talent in data and AI skills, India accounts for 16% of the global AI talent pool.
Education Budget 2023 – FAQs
Q1) How much budget was allocated to the education sector in the Union Budget 2023?
As per the Union Budget 2023, the central government plans to spend more than INR 1.12 lakh crore in the education sector in the fiscal year 2023–2024.
Q2) How many new nursing colleges are expected to be established in 2023?
As many as 157 nursing colleges will be set up in conjunction with a similar number of medical institutions, which have already been established since 2014.
Q3) What initiatives will be taken to realise the goal of “Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India” in 2023?
The government has decided to set up three centres of excellence (COE) for artificial intelligence (AI) at leading educational institutions in 2023.
