Saurabh Vijay, the current Chief Executive Officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India, has taken on the additional responsibility as the CEO of the IndiaAI Mission. He replaces Abhishek Singh, who has moved to a new role as the Director General of the National Testing Agency. This leadership transition comes at a pivotal time as India accelerates its sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities through a multi-crore national mission.
New Leadership for IndiaAI Mission
Saurabh Vijay, a 1998-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Maharashtra cadre, brings extensive experience in digital infrastructure to the IndiaAI Mission. He has been serving as the CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) since May 2026. The UIDAI is the statutory body responsible for Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric identity system. By heading both UIDAI and the IndiaAI Mission, Vijay is expected to drive synergy between India’s identity databases and its artificial intelligence objectives.
Abhishek Singh, the outgoing CEO of the IndiaAI Mission and a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre, has transitioned to the role of Director General at the National Testing Agency (NTA). During his tenure at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Singh played a central role in shaping India’s digital governance, including leadership roles at MyGov, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), and the Digital India Corporation (DIC).
Adding to the new leadership team, Sudeep Shrivastava has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the IndiaAI Mission. Shrivastava, who currently serves as a Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will oversee the operational execution of the mission’s various components.
Understanding the IndiaAI Mission
The IndiaAI Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet on March 7, 2024, with a total financial outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore for five years. It serves as a comprehensive national initiative to build a sovereign artificial intelligence ecosystem. The mission is managed by the IndiaAI Independent Business Division (IBD) under the Digital India Corporation (DIC), which functions under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The primary vision of the mission is dual: Making AI in India and Making AI Work for India. It aims to democratize access to expensive computing resources and high-quality datasets, ensuring that startups, researchers, and academic institutions can innovate without significant capital barriers.
The Seven Pillars of IndiaAI
The mission is structured around seven key pillars that address different aspects of the AI value chain:
| Pillar | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| Compute Capacity | Establishing a public-private partnership to build an AI computing infrastructure with over 10,000 GPUs. |
| Innovation Centre | Developing indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific foundational models. |
| Datasets Platform | Streamlining access to high-quality non-personal datasets through a unified platform called AIKosh. |
| Application Development | Promoting AI solutions for social impact in sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and governance. |
| FutureSkills | Increasing AI courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to build an AI-ready workforce. |
| Startup Financing | Providing risk capital and funding for deep-tech AI startups to accelerate commercialization. |
| Safe & Trusted AI | Creating governance frameworks and tools for responsible AI development through the IndiaAI Safety Institute. |
Institutional Framework and Synergy
The appointment of the UIDAI CEO to lead the IndiaAI Mission highlights the government’s strategy to integrate different components of the Digital India stack. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory body established under the Aadhaar Act, 2016, and is headquartered in New Delhi. Both UIDAI and the IndiaAI Mission operate under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
By placing these two critical entities under a single leadership, the government aims to leverage the data management expertise of UIDAI to enhance the IndiaAI Datasets Platform. This synergy is expected to accelerate the development of personalized AI services for citizens while ensuring data privacy and security. The transition also ensures continuity in leadership, as the outgoing CEO Abhishek Singh has a long history of managing major digital platforms like MyGov and Karmayogi Bharat.
Key Takeaways
- Saurabh Vijay, the CEO of UIDAI, has been given additional charge as the CEO of the IndiaAI Mission.
- Sudeep Shrivastava, Joint Secretary at MeitY, has assumed charge as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the mission.
- The IndiaAI Mission was approved in March 2024 with a five-year financial outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore.
- The mission is implemented through seven pillars, including the establishment of an AI compute infrastructure with over 10,000 GPUs.
- UIDAI is a statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, established under the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
- The outgoing CEO, Abhishek Singh, has been appointed as the Director General of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
