Lesson 46 of 70 7 min Premium

IT, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum, Semiconductors and IPR

Information technology and India

The IT and BPM industry: revenues of about $280 billion (2024–25, NASSCOM), about 7% of GDP. It employs about 58 lakh people directly. It is India's largest services export.

Global Capability Centres (GCCs): India hosts over 1,700 GCCs of multinational firms, doing R&D, engineering and analytics. They employ about 19 lakh people.

Digital public infrastructure: see the lessons on financial inclusion and digital infrastructure.

Laws:

the Information Technology Act 2000, with Section 66A struck down in *Shreya Singhal* (2015) and Section 69A (blocking) upheld;
the IT Rules 2021 (intermediary guidelines and a digital media ethics code). Their fact-check unit amendment was struck down by the Bombay High Court in 2024;
a proposed Digital India Act would replace the IT Act;
the DPDP Act 2023.

Artificial intelligence

Concepts:

AI: machines performing tasks that need human-like intelligence.
Machine learning: systems that learn from data.
Deep learning: multi-layer neural networks.
Generative AI: creates text, images and code, using large language models (LLMs) and transformers (2017).
Narrow AI vs artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Card diagram of the seven pillars of the IndiaAI Mission: compute, foundation models, datasets, applications, skills, startup financing and safe and trusted AI — The mission treats compute and data as public infrastructure, similar to India's DPI approach.

India's AI policy:

NITI Aayog's National Strategy for AI (2018), "#AIforAll", with focus sectors of healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and mobility;
the IndiaAI Mission (March 2024, ₹10,372 crore), whose pillars are:
compute capacity: over 34,000 GPUs made available through subsidised access, rising later;
foundation models: Sarvam AI and others selected to build Indian LLMs (2025);
datasets (AIKosh platform);
an innovation centre;
skills;
startup financing;
safe and trusted AI (an AI Safety Institute, announced in 2025);
Bhashini, for language AI.

Uses in governance:

crop advisories;
TB detection;
traffic management;
court translation (SUVAS, SUPACE in the Supreme Court).

Risks and regulation:

bias;
deepfakes: the 2023–24 advisories to platforms, and draft IT Rules amendments (2025) to label synthetic content;
privacy;
job displacement;
misinformation;
copyright: the ANI v. OpenAI case in the Delhi High Court (2024–25).

India's approach: India has preferred light-touch, sector-specific guidance to a single AI law. The AI governance guidelines (2025) were released by MeitY. India will host the AI Impact Summit in February 2026, after the Bletchley (2023), Seoul (2024) and Paris (2025) summits.

Global context: the EU AI Act (2024) takes a risk-based approach. GPAI, the Global Partnership on AI, was chaired by India in 2024.

Quantum technology

Principles:

Superposition: a qubit can be in a combination of 0 and 1.
Entanglement: linked states, whatever the distance between the qubits.

Applications:

quantum computing, for problems such as molecular simulation and optimisation;
quantum communication: quantum key distribution (QKD) gives tamper-evident encryption;
quantum sensing, such as precise navigation without GPS.

The threat: a large quantum computer could break today's public-key encryption (RSA). This drives the shift to post-quantum cryptography.

National Quantum Mission (April 2023):

₹6,003 crore over 2023–31;
targets: quantum computers with 50–1,000 physical qubits in 8 years, satellite-based QKD over 2,000 km, and multi-node quantum networks;
four thematic hubs (T-Hubs) at IISc Bengaluru, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.

Achievements:

DRDO and IIT Delhi demonstrated QKD over 1 km in free space (2024);
C-DOT's quantum-secure communication;
Bengaluru startup QpiAI launched a 25-qubit quantum computer (April 2025).

2025 was declared the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology by the UN.

Semiconductors

Why they matter: chips underpin electronics, cars, defence and AI. Supply is concentrated: Taiwan (TSMC) makes most leading-edge chips, the Netherlands (ASML) makes the lithography machines, and the US dominates design tools. The 2021 chip shortage and US–China export controls showed the risk.

Flowchart of the semiconductor value chain from design to fabrication, equipment and materials, assembly and testing, and end products, with India's position at each stage — India is starting with assembly and mature-node fabs while building on its design strength.

India's semiconductor push:

the India Semiconductor Mission (December 2021, ₹76,000 crore), with 50% fiscal support for fabs, display fabs and ATMP/OSAT (assembly and test) units;
approved projects:
Micron ATMP at Sanand (Gujarat);
Tata–PSMC fab at Dholera (28–110 nm nodes);
Tata OSAT in Assam;
CG Power–Renesas OSAT;
Kaynes OSAT;
further units approved in 2025 in Odisha, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh;
the first "Made in India" chips were expected in 2025. The first chips from pilot lines were displayed at Semicon India 2025;
the Design Linked Incentive scheme supports chip design startups;
India has a strong chip design workforce: about 20% of the world's design engineers.

Partnerships: iCET with the US (2023, renamed TRUST in 2025) and Quad semiconductor supply chain initiatives.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Types:

Patents: inventions, protected for 20 years. Governed by the Patents Act 1970, amended in 2005 for TRIPS compliance, which introduced product patents for drugs.
Copyright: literary and artistic works, protected for the author's life plus 60 years in India.
Trademarks: renewable every 10 years.
Geographical Indications: under the GI Act 1999. Darjeeling tea was the first GI (2004–05). India has over 650 GIs.
Industrial designs, plant varieties (PPVFR Act 2001) and semiconductor layout designs.

Section 3(d) of the Patents Act: it blocks patents on new forms of known substances unless they show enhanced efficacy, to prevent "evergreening". It was upheld in *Novartis v. Union of India* (2013), the Glivec case.

Compulsory licensing (Section 84): India's first compulsory licence was granted in 2012 for Bayer's Nexavar (to Natco), for a cancer drug.

National IPR Policy (2016): "Creative India; Innovative India". Its nodal department is DPIIT, and the Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) was set up.

Results:

India rose in the Global Innovation Index from 81 (2015) to 38 (2025);
patent filings surged: India is now sixth in the world in patent applications (WIPO), and residents now file more than half of applications.

Concerns: the US Special 301 report keeps India on its Priority Watch List. India defends its TRIPS flexibilities for public health, as in the COVID vaccine TRIPS waiver proposal with South Africa (2020).

Common prelims traps

Section 66A of the IT Act was struck down, not 69A.
Section 3(d) prevents evergreening (the Novartis case).
Patents last 20 years.
The National Quantum Mission runs to 2031.

Quick self-test

*What is a qubit?* A quantum bit that can exist in a superposition of 0 and 1.
*Why is QKD secure?* Measuring quantum states disturbs them, so eavesdropping is detectable.
*What is OSAT?* Outsourced semiconductor assembly and test.

Practice: Mains question

*"India must be a producer, not just a consumer, of frontier technologies." Discuss with reference to AI, quantum technology and semiconductors. (250 words)*

Key terms

LLM: a large language model trained on vast text data to predict and generate language.
Deepfake: AI-generated synthetic media that convincingly imitates a real person.
Node (nm): a measure of chip manufacturing generation; smaller nodes allow more transistors.

Evergreening: extending patent life through minor changes to an existing drug.
Post-quantum cryptography: encryption designed to resist attacks by quantum computers.

⚡ Quick revision

IT/BPM ~$280 bn (2024–25); GCCs 1,700+; IT Act 2000 (s.66A struck down, Shreya Singhal 2015); IT Rules 2021; DPDP Act 2023
AI: NITI strategy 2018 (#AIforAll); IndiaAI Mission Mar 2024 (₹10,372 cr; GPUs, foundation models, AIKosh); AI Impact Summit Feb 2026 (India); EU AI Act 2024
Quantum: NQM Apr 2023 (₹6,003 cr, 2023–31, 4 T-Hubs); 2025 International Year of Quantum
Semiconductors: ISM Dec 2021 (₹76,000 cr, 50% support); Micron Sanand; Tata–PSMC Dholera; Tata Assam OSAT
IPR: Patents Act 1970 (2005 amendment); s.3(d) (Novartis 2013); compulsory licence 2012 (Nexavar); GI Act 1999 (Darjeeling tea first); National IPR Policy 2016; GII rank 38 (2025)

The market value of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a given period. This hub page shows where GDP turns up across the syllabus as a yardstick; the measurement methods are covered in the linked lesson.Shared, interoperable digital systems, such as identity, payments and data-sharing platforms, built for public benefit on open standards, on which governments and private firms can build services at population scale.India's primary law on electronic transactions and cyber crime, giving legal recognition to electronic records and digital signatures, defining cyber offences and setting rules for intermediaries such as social media platforms.The highest courts of the states (Articles 214–231), with writ jurisdiction under Article 226. Full coverage: High Courts and Subordinate Courts.The field of building computer systems that perform tasks usually needing human intelligence, such as recognising speech and images, translating languages, making predictions and generating text, mostly by learning patterns from large amounts of data.The Government of India's apex policy think tank, set up on 1 January 2015 by a Union Cabinet resolution to replace the Planning Commission, with a focus on cooperative and competitive federalism, strategic policy advice and monitoring rather than allocating funds.The IndiaAI Mission, approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2024 with an outlay of about 10,372 crore rupees over five years, aims to build India's artificial intelligence ecosystem by providing affordable computing capacity, datasets, foundation models, skills, start-up financing and tools for safe and trusted AI.India's apex court under Articles 124–147; guardian of the Constitution and final court of appeal. Full coverage: The Supreme Court: Composition, Appointment and Jurisdiction.Materials such as silicon whose electrical conductivity lies between conductors and insulators, used to make chips that power phones, computers, cars and defence systems; India is building a chip industry through the India Semiconductor Mission.The 2001 law that protects new plant varieties developed by breeders while uniquely recognising farmers as cultivators, conservers and breeders, giving them the right to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed (but not branded seed), and setting up the PPV&FR Authority.Legal rights that give creators and inventors exclusive control, for a limited time, over the use of their creations, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, brands, designs and goods linked to a place of origin.Immunity is the body's ability to resist infection; vaccines are biological preparations that safely train the immune system to recognise a pathogen, so that it can respond quickly if exposed later.India's first comprehensive law on protecting digital personal data, passed in August 2023, which sets rules for how organisations collect and use personal data, gives individuals rights, and creates the Data Protection Board of India.

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