AI May Add More Than $500 Billion to India’s Core Sectors by 2035, PwC Says

Artificial intelligence could add between roughly $550 billion and $600 billion in economic value to five of India’s most critical sectors by 2035, a new report by PwC said.

The estimate comes from PwC’s AI Edge for Viksit Bharat report, which draws on its global Value in Motion research and focuses on agriculture, education, energy, healthcare and manufacturing. Together, these sectors form the backbone of India’s economy and account for a large share of employment, public spending and long-term productivity.

Rather than positioning AI as a frontier technology race, the report frames India’s opportunity around execution.

PwC argues that the country’s advantage lies in its ability to deploy AI at population scale, supported by a large STEM workforce, a growing research ecosystem and a decade of investment in Digital Public Infrastructure.

PwC describes this approach as “AI-Edge,” a concept distinct from edge AI, which refers to where models are run. AI-Edge, the firm says, is about generating measurable outcomes by embedding AI into systems that already operate at scale, from public service delivery to industrial operations.

The report places AI within India’s broader digital trajectory. As of early 2025, the digital economy accounted for a little under one-eighth of India’s gross domestic product (GDP), reflecting what PwC describes as the cumulative impact of sustained digital reforms under the Digital India program.

Platforms such as Aadhaar, UPI and interoperable public digital rails have created the foundation for large-scale technology deployment, the report said.

Sanjeev Krishnan, chairperson of PwC in India, said in the report that this infrastructure has helped India build one of the world’s more diversified and resilient technology ecosystems. AI, he added, is now the critical enabler that can convert digital reach into economic and social outcomes.

To translate potential into impact, PwC recommends what it calls a “3A2I” framework. Under this approach, AI tools and platforms must first be accessible, acceptable and assimilable across different segments of society. Only after these conditions are met, the report said, should initiatives be implemented and institutionalized at scale.

PwC applies this framework across the five focus sectors, pointing to pilot initiatives that combine AI deployment with institutional readiness. In agriculture, AI is positioned as a way to improve productivity and resource efficiency through better decision support. In education and healthcare, the emphasis is on expanding access and improving outcomes without proportionate increases in manpower.

Energy and manufacturing are framed as central to India’s long-term competitiveness. In energy, AI is linked to grid optimization, loss reduction and managing the transition toward renewable capacity. In manufacturing, PwC highlights applications such as predictive maintenance, quality control and supply-chain resilience as levers for productivity gains without equivalent capital expansion.

The report also flags constraints. AI deployment at scale will place additional demands on energy infrastructure, require sustained workforce reskilling and depend on governance frameworks that balance innovation with accountability. Without those elements, PwC cautioned, AI adoption risks reinforcing existing inequalities rather than narrowing them.

Still, the firm said India is better positioned than many peers to navigate those trade-offs. The combination of Digital Public Infrastructure, policy momentum and market scale gives India a chance to demonstrate how AI can be applied as a development tool rather than a purely commercial or experimental one.

“This is the moment for India,” the report concluded, but only if AI is treated as a systems challenge rather than a series of isolated deployments. With disciplined execution, PwC argued, India could build an AI-driven growth framework that delivers inclusive outcomes at scale — and offers a model other emerging economies could follow.