NEW DELHI: Compute infrastructure, models and data must work together to build a strong AI ecosystem suited to India’s multilingual, multicultural, and sector-specific needs, MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan said at the RailTel AI Workshop 2026.
Addressing the workshop—”AI@Government: Powering the Future”—organized by RailTel Corporation of India Ltd., a Navratna CPSE under the Ministry of Railways, at Manekshaw Centre here, Krishnan underscored the importance of indigenous AI capabilities, data sovereignty, and cybersecurity for governance and citizen-centric services.
He highlighted support being extended under the IndiaAI Mission and said RailTel has the potential to strengthen AI-ready infrastructure and enable AI-led digital transformation.
Earlier, welcoming participants, RailTel CMD Sanjai Kumar said AI is becoming critical for transforming organizational functioning and improving service delivery.
Co-founder of Sarvam, Dr. Vivek Raghavan, in his keynote, outlined the rapidly evolving AI landscape and opportunities in the Indian context.
The workshop featured a panel discussion moderated by V. Rama Manohar Rao, Director/Finance, RailTel, with panelists Laxmiprasad Putta, Vassar Labs; R.S. Mani; Dr. Anshul Vikram Pandey, PanScience Innovation; Deepak Rao, PivotChain; Ankush Tiwari, Pi-Labs; and Abhishek Kumar Singh, RailTel.
The panel deliberated on real-world AI use cases for government, operational efficiency, decision-making, and key imperatives of data readiness, computing, interoperability, scalability, and responsible deployment.
Technology perspectives were shared by Nitin Gupta, Lead – GenAI & Cloud Strategy, Google, and Prabhas Harlapur, Lead Solutions Architect, Intel.
The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Manoj Tandon, Director/POM, RailTel. RailTel said the deliberations will help identify scalable AI use cases and strengthen collaboration among government, PSUs, and technology firms for effective AI adoption in public services.
