By Admin 
On January 21, 2026, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has given a befitting reply to the statement of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Kristalina Georgieva in Davos. The IMF chief had described India as a second-tier AI power, but Vaishnav rejected it outright and said that India is in the first group. This happened in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos 2026, where the global impact of AI was being discussed.
What did the IMF Chief say against India?
Kristalina Georgieva had said in the panel that countries like America, Denmark and Singapore are in the top group in AI. He placed India in the second group, i.e. second-tier AI power. He praised India’s long-term investment in IT, but said that India is not yet ahead in AI.
What answer did Ashwini Vaishnav give to the IMF Chief?
Vaishnav, while directly addressing the IMF Chief, said, ‘I don’t know what the IMF’s criteria are, but Stanford University has ranked India third in the world in AI penetration, AI preparedness and AI talent. It ranks second in AI talent. Therefore your second-tier classification is not correct. India is clearly in the first group.
Vaishnav further said, ‘Return on Investment (ROI) does not come from making very big models. 95% of the work is done by models with 20-50 billion parameters. India has created many such models and is deploying them in various sectors, due to which productivity, efficiency and technology are being used better.
India is making progress on all five layers of AI
AI architecture has five layers: application layer, model layer, chip layer, infrastructure layer and energy layer. India is making good progress in all these five.
Ashwini Vaishnav said, ‘India will become the largest service provider to the world in the application layer. By understanding the business of the enterprise, it will provide service through AI application, this is where the highest ROI will come. India’s focus is on diffusing AI on a large scale, and not just on scale.
India is building a semiconductor ecosystem
According to Stanford report, India is in the top-3 in AI penetration, preparedness and talent. Is at number-2 in talent. India is building a semiconductor ecosystem, which includes design, fabrication, packaging, materials and equipment. Big players like Google are expanding AI data centers in India and forming deep partnerships with Indian startups. The world is considering India as a reliable partner in AI. India is focusing on the 5th Industrial Revolution, where small and low-cost solutions will yield higher returns.