The time for AI regulations has come, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said during the launch of the World Development Report 2026. He also said the Ministry would release a consultation paper within one month.

Here are a few excerpts from his speech and a brief overview of how MeitY’s position on AI policy and governance has changed over time:

AI regulation to prioritise safety, people, scale and inclusivity: “Secretary Krishnan spoke about AI regulation. Yes, the time has come. I’ll request the department to come out with a regulation-focused consultation paper which focuses on safety. That’s the most important point: safety related to AI use.”

On a human-first approach and scaling AI: “Second is human first. Our humanity has to be at the most important part of this entire change which is happening. Third, scaling. Fourth, no person left behind. It has to be very inclusive. It has to be democratized, as our Prime Minister always guides us. That should be the fourth part of the consultation paper.”

On AI deepfakes:

“Fifth part is the harms which come to the society, especially from deep fakes, which in a sense are a nuisance which can cause huge problems in the society. People believe them and the quality of deep fakes is increasing every day. People believe them and it sets a totally wrong precedent. It sets a totally wrong narrative and people get lured into doing wrong things and believing wrong things.”

Consultations for techno-legal solutions: “We have always maintained that AI and technologies cannot be regulated just by having a law. We have to bring a techno-legal solution. We have to have the stakeholders onboarded because the bulk of this regulation will have to be taken by the industry itself. The bulk of the responsibility will have to be taken by the industry, especially on cybersecurity, on safety, on user harm, on psychological disorders that might come, and on deep fakes. The industry has to take the primary responsibility.” 

However, it is unclear whether the consultations will be public or restricted to selected stakeholders. 

Tenders and empanelment for government use of AI: He also said that he wants the ” government being able to use AI.” However, he stated that instead of traditional tender-based methods, the Ministry/government might follow the empanelment process. “Once the empanelment is done, then the selected firms, the selected startups, they can then participate in a tender from whichever government department which wants to use the AI technology,” he added. He also said that the department might have already issued an RFE addressing these AI-related empanelments or tenders. 

“Our demand estimate is for 10,000 GPUs, and the first tender that we are coming out with is for 5,000.”

Recent developments in MeitY’s AI governance: 

In April 2026, the AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG) was established as a “central institutional mechanism” for coordinating AI policy, without the independent regulatory bodies proposed in the AI governance guidelines, thereby limiting the group’s membership to ministers and senior officials from a few ministries. Access the full list here. 

In July 2026, MediaNama reported that MeitY was hiring for the Director of its IndiaAI Safety Institute to work under the IndiaAI Mission. 

How MeitY’s position on AI regulation has evolved: Over the past few months, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and MeitY secretary S Krishnan have been talking about AI regulations. Vaishnaw has now reiterated this position. However, historically, MeitY has been reluctant about regulating AI. Previous statements illustrate this shift:

In December 2025: S Krishnan said that the Indian government is unlikely to introduce a new, standalone law to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) at this stage and will instead use existing legal frameworks such as the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.

“As it is, we are a country with many laws… So my own inclination always is to avoid putting in a new law, a new regulation, unless you absolutely have to. Try to see what we can do with existing law,” — S Krishnan (December 2025)

In November 2025, S Krishnan Said: “There’s been a conscious and deliberate approach of not leading with regulation and of making sure that every opportunity is provided to be made.”

However, the government’s stance on regulating AI has changed. 

In June, 2026: Speaking to The Hindu, Vaishnaw, possibly for the first time, has publicly said that MeitY was in talks with the industry to formulate a dedicated AI law. 

“It’s a very complex topic. Certain things have been done under the IT Act framework. But I do think that there is a requirement for a new law because the world of AI is very different from the world when the IT Act was enacted in 2000. We are discussing with the industry to come up with a framework. As always, our objective and approach will be to balance innovation and regulation in a manner that allows innovation to continue while ensuring our citizens remain safe,” — Ashwini Vaishnaw

A month later, S. Krishnan also echoed similar statements. 

In July 2026: S. Krishnan, said: ““We will have to start discussing in various groups as to what the stakeholders feel about it [AI regulation] and we will start a process of drafting.”

However, going back further, here are a few more statements made by then MeitY officials:

In September 2024: MeitY Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh said: “Instead of trying to regulate the [Artificial Intelligence] technology, we are looking at regulating [its] applications,” citing risks such as deepfakes, misinformation and child sexual abuse material.

In May 2023: then Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that there would be rules under the Digital India Act (DIA) to regulate AI and high-risk intermediaries, but no separate legislation. 

In April 2023: Responding to a parliamentary question, Vaishnaw said:  “The government is not considering bringing a law or regulating the growth of artificial intelligence in the country.”

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