![\"India](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/onvrt-2026-01-22T153735.082.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAt Davos, Ashwini Vaishnaw rejects the IMF\u2019s \u201csecond-tier\u201d AI tag, citing Stanford rankings that place India among global AI leaders.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of I&B, at the World Economic Forum (WEF). <\/p>\n
Where does India stand in the global race for artificial intelligence? The International Monetary Fund appears to place the country in a second tier\u2014behind established frontrunners, the United States and China. But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, India\u2019s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw firmly rejected that assessment, calling it both inaccurate and out of step with widely accepted global benchmarks.<\/p>\n
The disagreement played out during a panel discussion that also included IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. While the panel suggested that India was trailing the US and China in the AI ecosystem, Vaishnaw challenged the basis of the IMF\u2019s classification, arguing that it overlooked credible international evaluations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what the IMF criteria is,\u201d Vaishnaw said during the discussion, \u201cbut Stanford places India at third in the world for AI preparedness. I don\u2019t think your classification is correct.\u201d He went on to assert that India should be seen as \u201cclearly in the first group\u201d of AI nations.<\/p>\n
Read More | India Emerges as World\u2019s Third Most Competitive AI Power: Stanford<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n To support his position, the minister pointed to rankings by Stanford University, which assess countries on parameters such as AI preparedness, penetration, and talent. According to these assessments, India ranks third globally in AI preparedness and penetration, and second when it comes to AI talent. \u201cOn AI talent, it is number two,\u201d Vaishnaw noted, stressing that the label of a \u201csecond-tier\u201d AI country does not reflect India\u2019s current capabilities or momentum.<\/p>\n Vaishnaw also used the platform to outline the breadth of India\u2019s AI strategy, emphasising that the country is not pursuing a narrow or fragmented approach. Instead, India is building capacity across what he described as five critical layers of the AI architecture: applications, models, chips, infrastructure, and energy.<\/p>\n