India

Summary
Over the past few years, India’s degree of digital dependence has increased from 0.46 in 2010 to 0.57 in 2023. This indicates a shift from low to moderate dependence, moving India from third-least dependent to ninth in the ranking. While India has consistently exhibited a high degree of dependence on foreign ICT patents and platforms, with values close to 1.00 since 2010, its role as a leading software producer and hub for business process outsourcing is reflected in its independence in ICT service trade, valued at just 0.15 in 2023. Furthermore, India’s dependence on ICT goods trade has declined from 0.83 in 2010 to 0.75 in 2023, and its bilateral dependence on ICT goods from the United States has decreased dramatically over the same period, from 0.83 to 0.18.

Policies
India’s policies indicate that, in terms of digital dependence reduction, the country is on a comprehensive “mission”: The "Semiconductor Mission" from 2021 provided large investments to support the setting up of semiconductor fabrication plants. Three years later, the “IndiaAI Mission” was approved, which includes several priorities: As global models often struggle with local dialects of the numerous official Indian languages, indigenous LLMs shall bridge this digital divide. India’s new measures also build on Aadhaar, a unique foundational digital and physical identity system that functions as a crucial ecosystem.