Artificial Intelligence (AI) race has just started, and Indian foundational models will solve many challenges for the world, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said on Thursday, urging Indian companies to build better and efficient AI foundational models.

"What we did in digital public infrastructure (DPI) is that we used open source, open API, globally interoperable models, and those models will be the way forward for us," Amitabh Kant said at the CII Annual Business Summit 2025.

"Therefore, India must build its foundational model. I believe India will provide these foundational models for many areas which have challenges for the world. How to improve learning outcomes, health outcomes and nutritional standards, etc," he told the gathering.

According to Amitabh Kant, India will use 22 languages and thousands of dialects to find solutions to many of the challenges of the world.

"Indian startups will do some pathbreaking work in this area," he added.

Talking about the ease of doing business, the G20 Sherpa said that the Central government has put in the building blocks, and it is time for states to bring reforms.

He also urged the industry to invest in research and development to develop cutting-edge technologies to sustain India’s accelerated growth.

Amitabh Kant also said that Quality Control Orders (QCOs) must be used rationally to ensure Indian industry can grow. To make Indian Industry more competitive, he suggested that states give land to the industry on long-term lease and privatise discoms to make them more efficient.

He also underlined the need for an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to ensure speedy justice, especially in commercial cases.

Amitabh Kant said that tourism is another great area for growth. “We need to roll out a massive Incredible India campaign to attract tourism in a big way. This is India’s soft power. It has a huge multiplier effect in terms of jobs and can create millions of jobs. States must drive the tourism sector as the driver of growth,” he said.

CII's President Designate (2024-25) and EY India Chairman and CEO, Rajiv Memani, said that India has done a lot of work in manufacturing and underlined the need to boost the sector further. He also highlighted the need for second-generation reforms and advocated for alternate dispute resolution.