India's AI Governance Approach
Guidelines Over Legislation
India has taken a notably different approach to AI regulation compared to the EU. Rather than comprehensive binding legislation, the government has opted for soft governance: the MeitY released India AI Governance Guidelines in November 2025 under the IndiaAI Mission — explicitly framed as non-binding, innovation-enabling principles rather than enforceable regulations.
- India's AI governance rests on three pillars: existing laws (IT Act, DPDP Act 2023, IP laws), sector-specific regulations (RBI, SEBI, IRDAI for their respective domains), and the non-binding AI Governance Guidelines
- The Digital India Act, which would introduce risk-based classification of digital services and AI-specific provisions (including deepfake regulation), remains in draft stage
- India's IndiaAI Mission (budget: ₹10,372 crore) focuses primarily on compute infrastructure, foundational model development, and AI skilling — governance is secondary to capability building
- The EU AI Act's extraterritorial reach means Indian AI companies offering services in Europe must comply — creating de facto regulatory pressure
● Tracked since March 16, 2026 · last seen July 01, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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