India Govt Considers Stricter AI Governance Framework as Risks Grow

As new worries about cybersecurity, deepfakes, and threats to vital sectors arise from the fast development of AI, the Centre is increasing its focus on AI regulation. Reportedly, a six-person Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC) was formed on April 13. The TPEC is reportedly working on new rules that would lead India to abandon its present "light-touch" approach to AI regulation.

On the same day, India also announced the formation of an interministerial AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG) with ten members. This group will be responsible for developing and coordinating AI governance policies across the country.

Government Putting a Strict Scanner on AI Via TPEC & AIGEG

With its establishment, the AIGEG formally implements the recommendations from the Economic Survey and India's AI governance principles, which are anticipated to influence the country's future AI policy trajectory. According to what MeitY indicated before, the TPEC is a permanent expert advisory group that will help the AIGEG run smoothly by offering advice on policy, strategy, and technical matters.

In international forums, it will offer expert opinions on policymaking, regulatory actions, and India's participation in AI governance. The AIGEG's job is to coordinate the various ministries' AI policy initiatives and set the country's overarching policy direction. Nevertheless, the TPEC will offer professional guidance and transform policy and technical matters into actionable suggestions. Members of the committee include S Krishnan, secretary of MeitY, as well as specialists from IIT Gandhinagar and Madras as well as Nasscom, the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), and MAIT.

The framework is chaired by Ashwini Vaishnaw, the minister of information technology. The proposed action could potentially represent a departure from India's previous AI policy posture, which involved the government's failure to establish a dedicated AI law. Earlier, governments relied heavily on the IT Act and IT Rules to regulate issues such as deepfakes and harmful AI-generated content. The AI governance rules that were previously provided by the Principal Scientific Adviser's (PSA) committee are expected to be drastically different from the suggestions that the TPEC and the AIGEG are likely to make.

Why Government Strongly Pushing for AI’s Framework?

The introduction of sophisticated AI models like Anthropic's Claude Mythos and the recent controversy surrounding xAI's Grok chatbot's explicit AI-generated content have heightened worries about potential dangers to industries like banking, electricity, and digital infrastructure. The increasing scrutiny of digital platforms, including AI-generated content, is another factor contributing to the regulatory push. X was ordered by MeitY in January to remove illegal and obscene images created by Grok.

MeitY also requested a comprehensive report on the actions taken at the user level and the number of takedowns. In order to enhance supervision, the Centre revised the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, with the goal of regulating content created by artificial intelligence. The new regulations specify what constitutes synthetically generated information and mandate that platforms prominently mark such content as of February 20, 2026. Additionally, in order to impose more stringent compliance deadlines on intermediaries like Google, Meta, and X, the Centre has suggested revisions to Section 87 of the IT Act.