Artificial intelligence (AI) could contribute nearly $550 billion to India’s economy by 2035 across sectors including agriculture, education, energy, healthcare, and manufacturing, according to a report cited by Vietnam Times on Thursday.

The study, titled AI Edge for Viksit Bharat, by PwC India, was presented at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos 2026 and is based on economic modelling and real-world pilot projects. It positions India as a potential global benchmark for deploying AI at scale, integrating it into public systems and everyday economic activity, while emphasising inclusion, governance, and institutional readiness.

According to the report, India’s AI strategy is being shaped not only with efficiency and growth in mind but also emphasises inclusion, governance, and institutional readiness. The study positions India as a potential global benchmark for how emerging economies can deploy AI at scale while embedding it into public systems and everyday economic activity.

The report highlights a proprietary 3A2I framework – Access, Acceptance, Assimilation, Implementation, and Institutionalisation – as a system-level playbook to scale AI. Access focuses on ensuring the availability of data, digital infrastructure, and skilled talent, while Acceptance stresses public confidence for widespread adoption. Assimilation addresses the integration of AI into real workflows beyond pilot projects. “Once these foundations are established, the framework advances toward large-scale Implementation and long-term Institutionalisation,” the report said.

Sector pilots demonstrated double-digit efficiency gains in agriculture through AI-enabled crop advisories and improved disease detection in healthcare.

PwC said India can expect operational excellence, sustainability, good governance, resilience, and financial discipline from AI deployed at scale.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis highlighted AI-enabled platforms such as MAITRI for industrial investments, where automation and data-driven processes are enhancing ease of doing business.

“In the energy sector, smart metering systems using AI have flagged power theft cases with high accuracy, improving financial discipline, while in healthcare, AI-driven tuberculosis detection tools have significantly improved notification rates, strengthening disease surveillance,” the report said.

Sanjeev Krishan, Chairperson of PwC India, highlighted that AI offers India the ability to “reimagine growth beyond traditional GDP metrics,” aligning innovation with a people-first development lens, the report added.