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Govt plans mkt platform for AI startups
Mint Mumbai
|February 19, 2026
The next phase of India’s AI Mission will pivot toward building a marketplace to commercialize the models and applications built by the startups that were funded in its initial tranche, Abhishek Singh, additional secretary at the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) and chief executive of the IndiaAl Mission, said in an interview.
India’s first AI Mission was notified in March 2024 with a net budgetary outlay of ₹10,372 crore ($1.2 billion). It has funded a total of 12 startups, with net incentives given to them in the form of compute access worth ₹2,194 crore.
Speaking with Mint on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit 2026, Singh defended MeitY’s decision to keep the expo open to the public, saying the goal was to showcase India’s AI capabilities to the widest possible audience rather than restrict access. Edited excerpts.
This story is from the February 19, 2026 edition of Mint Mumbai.
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