Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani bats for ‘diffusion of AI’; shares example of PM Modi’s vision on applying tech to agriculture and dairy

Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys, has a message for the world: India is about to do for Artificial Intelligence (AI) what it did for digital payments. Speaking at the CEOs Forum during the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026, Nilekani described the current state of AI in India as a “race to the top”, while comparing the excitement around AI to the 2016 launch of the BHIM UPI app – which transformed India into a global leader in digital transactions. He also shared an example of how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision led to the development of an app within three weeks – from ideation to implementation. Nilekani shared a behind-the-scenes story from a meeting with the PM on January 8. While Nilekani was discussing how AI could help farmers, Modi pushed the vision further.“I want to talk about AI diffusion in India with an example,” he said in a hall full of tech CEOs and other leaders . “When I met PM Modi on 8th January and talked about applying AI to farmers. He said, why can't we apply it to cows and cattle? Because if the cow is sick, it can't tell you that it is sick. How can you solve this problem? He gave us his vision of applying AI to agriculture and dairy,” Nilekani said.According to him, that question sparked a lightning-fast collaboration between the PM Office (PMO), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Amul, India’s dairy giant.Nilekani told the gathering that the process of getting technology out of the lab and into the hands of real people took just three weeks. “The same day, the PMO had a meeting along with Krishnan and Abhishek of MeitY, with Amul, and with some of my colleagues. Within three weeks, the application went live…”What makes this significant is the scale of the impact that the app had – 3.6 million farmers are now connected to the system; 40 million (number of) cattle being monitored for health and productivity; and 2 billion (number of) milk transactions processed annually that will benefit from AI efficiency.Nilekani drew parallel of AI diffusion in India with the UPI boom in 2016, pointing out very few people predicted it would grow to 21 billion transactions a month with 500 million users. “I get the same sense of excitement I got on December 30th, 2016, when the PM launched the BHIM payment application on UPI. And when he launched that application, he started something where today we have 21 billion transactions a month with 500 million users and the world's largest payment system. I feel the same sense that AI is at that point,” Nilekani added.“With his leadership and vision of how AI can be used for the benefit of Indians, common man, farmers, workers, I think it's going to really take off... By the time many of these people come back in a few months, there will be many more applications. India will lead the world on showing how AI diffusion can matter to improve the lives of common man, farmers, students, patients. This is where the AI road, the race to the top is going to happen,” Nilekani added.