India Bets on Digital Public Infrastructure Model for Education AI
Bodhan AI at IIT Madras will build a shared national stack for schools and startups, moving AI in classrooms from pilots to platform scale.
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India has set up a new artificial intelligence center aimed at building a national digital backbone for AI in education, moving beyond pilot projects toward a standardized, interoperable system that states and private firms can use.
The Centre of Excellence, dubbed Bodhan AI, will be housed at IIT Madras and tasked with developing what the government describes as the Bharat EduAI Stack, an open digital infrastructure layer designed to support AI applications across schools, higher education and skilling programs.
At its core, Bodhan AI is not an app but an infrastructure project. The center will develop a multilingual foundation AI model hosted in India, along with a shared technology layer that states, public institutions and edtech companies can use instead of building standalone systems.
The aim is to create common rails for AI-driven learning tools, from automated feedback on student responses to classroom analytics for teachers and decision dashboards for administrators.
IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti said the stack is designed to function both as digital public infrastructure and as an integration layer for existing edtech products. Startups would be able to plug into a common backend rather than operate in silos.
Kamakoti said the government has set timelines for initial deployment. Over the next six months to one year, the centre plans to pilot AI solutions in two to three states, covering about 25% of schools in selected regions to assess learning outcomes and operational impact.
If executed as described, the model mirrors India’s broader digital public infrastructure approach, where government-backed core layers enable private innovation on top.
The Union Budget for 2025-26 allocated ₹500 crore to establish the centre, with ₹100 crore earmarked for 2026-27. Initial pilots are expected within six to twelve months, covering two to three states and about 10% to 25% of schools in selected regions. The pilots will test both learning outcomes and operational feasibility.
Officials said the platform will embed data protection controls and local hosting, reflecting ongoing policy emphasis on data sovereignty.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan formally launched the initiative at the Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave 2026 in New Delhi, positioning it as part of India’s broader effort to build indigenous AI capability in education.
Pradhan said the platform is intended to help deploy AI at scale while maintaining a focus on ethics and data sovereignty.
“We aim to make India a global leader in ethical AI,” he said at the event, adding that India’s AI systems should be “inclusive by design, interoperable by architecture and sovereign by capability.”
More than 100 edtech startups showcased products at the conclave, with many expected to seek integration into the stack. If the onboarding succeeds, Bodhan AI could reshape how AI tools are procured and deployed in India’s education system, shifting from fragmented experimentation to platform-led coordination.
