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www.desitalkchicago.com – that’s all you need to know 4 VIEWPOINT October 24, 2025 Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. India’s AI Journey: Transforming Fiscal Management For A Developed India AI is proving to be more than just a digital tool; it is becoming a fiscal multiplier. By tightening compliance, improving revenue forecasts, preventing leakages, and guiding expenditure, AI is reshaping India’s fiscal landscape. Recent tax reforms under the GST regime adjusting slabs to reduce rates on essentials while taxing luxury goods higher were made possible through AI-driven fiscal analytics. I ndia’s rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer confined to technology labs or industry pilots. It is becoming a core enabler of governance, particularly in its fiscal management, the backbone of any modern economy. In recent years, AI is helping India plug revenue leakages, strengthen budget forecast- ing, improve subsidy targeting and enhance financial inclusion. This transformation is positioning AI as a fiscal multiplier for the country’s journey toward Viksit Bharat (Developed India) 2047. BUILDING FISCAL AI FOUNDATIONS The launch of the IndiaAI Mission (2024), backed by 10,300 crore over five years, established one of the world’s largest AI compute infrastructures with nearly 18,700 GPUs. This computing backbone powers fiscal applica- tions such as real-time GST monitoring, subsidy dis- bursal analytics and expenditure forecasting. Early results show that AI is improving tax compliance and reducing fraudulent claims, thereby strengthening India’s fiscal base. DATA AS THE NEW FISCAL FUEL: The IndiaAI Dataset Platform is emerging as a game- changer. By opening anonymized datasets to research- ers and startups, the government is enabling large-scale fiscal simulations. Analysts can now model indirect tax elasticity, test subsidy impact and run “what-if” budget scenarios. This data-driven approach allows India to respond proactively to shocks such as commodity price fluctuations rather than react belatedly. AI IN SECTORAL PLANNING AND BUDGETING: AI-driven Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in agriculture, healthcare, and education are generating fiscal insights with direct policy relevance. For example, crop yield forecasts are helping calibrate procurement and subsidy budgets, while healthcare AI tools predict demand for medicines and beds, guiding public health expenditure. Such sectoral intelligence ensures more efficient alloca- tion of scarce resources. FINANCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH LANGUAGE AI: Fiscal efficiency is not just about numbers it is also about inclusion. Platforms like Bhashini and Sarvam-1 are breaking language barriers, enabling farmers, traders and small businesses across India to access government schemes and understand tax norms in their native lan- guages. This multilingual access improves compliance, expands the taxpayer base and increases participation in digital payments. STRENGTHENING DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE: India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker has already transformed service deliv- ery. With AI integration, it is now tackling fiscal leakages. AI-powered fraud detection in Direct Benefit Transfers (DBTs) is reducing duplicate and ineligible claims. Recent pilots during Mahakumbh 2025 demonstrated AI-enabled DPI’s ability to manage massive financial flows in real time insights now being adapted for pension disbursal, subsidy transfers, and tax refunds. CASE STUDIES: AI IN FISCAL ACTION: The results are tangible. GST analytics engines have identified thousands of fraudulent firms using fake invoices, saving billions in lost revenue. DBT monitoring systems, cross-checking Aadhaar with bank accounts, are blocking duplicate or ineligible subsidy claims These examples highlight how AI safeguards taxpayer money and ensures greater fiscal discipline. Human Capital and Private Innovation: To sustain this momentum, India is investing in AI skilling and talent pipelines through the IndiaAI Future Skills initiative. Universities and AI labs in Tier 2 and 3 cit- ies are training fiscal data analysts, while Global Capabil- ity Centers (GCCs) mainly in South India are increasingly handling compliance and financial analytics for both government and private clients. At the same time, startups are building AI audit tools and corporates are deploying compliance monitoring systems, widening the fiscal net and reducing costs for SMEs. Responsible and Ethical AI in Finance: Trust is central to fiscal governance. India’s pragmatic regulatory approach neither overregulating nor leaving AI unchecked ensures safeguards against fraud and cyber risks. IITs and universities are working on AI ethics frame- works, reinforcing public trust in AI-driven fiscal systems. 2025 - AI as India’s Fiscal Multiplier AI is proving to be more than just a digital tool; it is becoming a fiscal multiplier. By tightening compliance, improving revenue forecasts, preventing leakages, and guiding expenditure, AI is reshaping India’s fiscal land- scape. Recent tax reforms under the GST regime adjust- ing slabs to reduce rates on essentials while taxing luxury goods higher were made possible through AI-driven fiscal analytics. As India advances towards Viksit Bharat 2047, the in- tegration of AI in fiscal management is emerging as both a necessity and a strategic advantage. By embedding AI into public finance, India is building a governance model that is predictive, precise, transparent, and inclusive qualities that every modern economy must aspire to. References 1. Press Information Bureau (PIB), Ministry of Elec- tronics & IT. India’s AI Revolution: A Roadmap to Viksit Bharat. March 2025. 2. NASSCOM & BCG. State of India’s Generative AI Ecosystem Report 2024. 3. Stanford University. AI Index Report 2024. 4. Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Union Budget 2025–26: AI in Public Finance and Governance. 5. Reserve Bank of India. AI and Machine Learning in Indian Financial Systems: Op- portunities and Risks. 2024 (The author holds a dual masters degree from Europe and the US and is an ex-international corporate banker currently serving as Visiting Professor in international market- ing at a university in Bengaluru, India. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at rameshku- marn180@gmail.com ) - (This article appeared in South Asia Monitor Oct. 10, 2025. Used under special arrangementwith SAM) By Ramesh Kumar Nanjundaiya PHOTO:South Asia Monitor PHOTO:CourtesyAI Depiction of AI. How India Tariffs Hurt America’s China Strategy E ven if President Donald Trump was right that foreign countries absorb the cost of his tariffs, that wouldn’t mean they are necessarily in America’s interest. Suppressing economic growth in strategi- cally important regions can easily backfire on the United States. Consider South Asia. The region is mostly populated by India and Bangladesh, along with smaller countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka. TheWorld Bank projected last week that the region’s GDP growth would fall to 5.8 percent in 2026 from 6.6 percent in 2025. The “forecast has been downgraded,” the report notes, in part because “India continues to face higher-than-expected tariffs on goods exports to the United States.” Trump doubled the U.S. tariff rate on India to 50 per- cent in August. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic adviser estimates that U.S. tariffs will take about half a point off India’s growth rate. Why should an “America First” administration care about that? Because China is by far the largest economy in Asia and the most threatening regime to the United States. Economic growth correlates with diplomatic and military strength. If South Asia is relatively weaker, then China has more freedom to throw its weight along its eastern coast. Conflict in that region - which includes treaty allies Japan and the Philippines - risks sparking a direct confrontation with China. It is in America’s national interest, then, for South Asia, and especially India, to grow at a rapid clip. That would create a counterweight in Asia to China’s massive economic and military expansion. Trump’s barrage of tariffs on India in August was supposedly a response to its importation of Russian oil, even though China is a bigger customer of the same product. But Trump is determined to negotiate a grand trade bargain with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, so he didn’t impose secondary sanctions on their purchases of Russian crude. Trump wants U.S. trade policy to be more self-inter- ested, but it doesn’t serve America’s strategic interests to strengthen China’s position relative to its neighbors. At some level, the administration surely knows this. Indeed, its continued commitment to strengthening the Quad - comprising the United States, Japan, India and Australia - shows that it understands that regional power balances matter. Reuters reported this week that new trade talks are in the works. Negotiators can address differences with New Delhi without losing sight of its crucial role balanc- ing Beijing. -Editorial Board/ TheWashington Post