Parliamentary panel asks for a public tech strategy and a new coordination body

The committee is also learnt to have recommended a separate “technology diplomacy strategy” for the MEA

The parliamentary committee on external affairs has asked the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to prepare a public "technology vision and strategy document", saying it was surprised that India lacks a single written strategy linking technology with its foreign policy. Calling the current approach “fragmentary, piecemeal and ad hoc”, the panel said individual successes cannot substitute for a national vision.

The committee, chaired by Shashi Tharoor, recommended that the MEA work with the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) and other departments to prepare the document after consulting academia, research institutions and industry.

The panel said the document should outline India’s goals, priorities and the roles of different ministries. It also recommended a separate “technology diplomacy strategy” for the MEA. Both documents should be made public and reviewed periodically, it said.

The committee called for a formal inter-ministerial body on technology diplomacy, chaired by the MEA and including the IT, science, space and commerce ministries, to ensure regular coordination rather than a case-by-case approach.

The recommendations are part of the committee’s 17th report, adopted on September 22 and presented to the Lok Sabha Speaker on September 25.

The report said India had significant strengths in artificial intelligence (AI) but still faced gaps in computing power, data centre capacity, access to advanced chips, and private investment in large AI models. It noted that NITI Aayog’s national AI strategy was drafted before the emergence of large language models and recommended that NITI Aayog and MeitY revise it in consultation with the MEA.

India has risen to third place from seventh globally on the Stanford Global AI Vibrancy Tool, an interactive benchmarking suite developed by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) to compare national AI ecosystems. However, the committee cautioned that the gap with the US and China remained substantial, calling it “a difference of kind and not only of degree”.

The recommendations come as MeitY announced on Thursday that it would release a consultation paper within a month as a precursor to framing AI regulations. The paper will focus on safety, humanity, skilling, inclusivity and harm mitigation.

Data centre figures unverified

The committee questioned claims that India holds about 20% of the world’s data but accounts for only 3% of global data centre capacity. MeitY told the panel that neither figure was officially verified.

Industry estimates, cited in the report, suggest capacity may need to rise from around 1.5 gigawatts in 2025 to 5-10 GW by 2030. The committee recommended that the MEA coordinate with MeitY and other ministries to collect and publish verified data to guide international investments and technology partnerships.

I am a technology policy reporter with the National Political Bureau at Hindustan Times, based in New Delhi. I cover digital policy and the intersection of technology and society, focusing mainly on what's happening in India. My beat often involves tracking platform regulation, privacy, internet curbs, and the real-world impact of digital rules, among other things. Can usually be found reading government notifications so that you don't have to. I cover three key ministries: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of Communications, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B). I am originally from New Delhi and a graduate of the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. Over the past nine years, I have worked across television, digital and print media with The Secretariat, CNN-News18, Tiranga TV, Interesting Engineering, and now Hindustan Times. Although I am not on X, I can be reached at sejal.sharma@hindustantimes.com for tips, a chat or book recommendations. I respond fast, usually within a couple of hours. Outside of work, I enjoy playing badminton and driving my car. I am a firm believer that every trip — work or leisure — deserves a fridge magnet.Read More