Formalising a key recommendation in both the AI Governance Framework and the Economic Survey, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has officially constituted the AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), which will serve as India’s central institutional mechanism for AI governance policy development and coordination.
However, neither the Ministry of Education nor the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is part of the inter-ministerial body, whose mandate explicitly covers AI’s impact on jobs and re-skilling, among others.
Committee Structure
As per the Official Memorandum, the committee is chaired by the Union Minister for Electronics & IT, with the Minister of State for Electronics & IT as Vice-Chairperson. Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Chief Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog CEO, and secretaries from key departments such as Telecom, Economic Affairs, Science & Technology, and a representative from National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) are the members, with MeitY Secretary as member convener.
The AIGEG will be supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC), which will offer expert advisory.
Among the various mandates of this group are the more practical ones such as working with industry to develop a roadmap for Al deployment over the next decade, including “assessment of job profiles affected, geographical concentration of impacts. and extent of automation and augmentation,” the document notes.
Additionally, the group intends to classify AI use cases into categories such as “deploy”, “pilot” and “defer” based on various factors. The Committee says it will also assess the labour market impacts of AI adoption in advance, and develop mitigation strategies and transition plans.
Legitimate Concern
The Committee, based on how it is defined now, will likely assess and make broad recommendations on the economic impact of deploying AI tools. However, private sector tends to take these decisions based on costs, and policymakers should look at how to prepare labour force to better tackle AI advancements, Rohit Kumar, Founding Partner at the public policy firm The Quantum Hub (TQH), said. “Hence, a key thing this body has to look at is reforms in our tech education and skill development, and assess how ready is our labour force. However, the absence of Ministry of Labour, Education and skill development authorities would defeat that purpose,” he added.
Dr Srinivas Padmanabhuni, CTO of AiEnsured, says that the AIGEG, with such responsibilities, has the potential to function as an apex body that brings coherence to AI governance across ministries and promotes responsible innovation. “However, the composition raises a legitimate concern,” he said, referring to the absence of Education / Skilling departments. “One way to bridge the gap is through the Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC), which supports AIGEG in an advisory capacity. But ideally, any roadmap on labour transition must involve skill development officials from the start, not as an afterthought,” he added.
Sources in MeitY said inputs of Education and Labour ministries will be taken into account to carry out some of AIGEG’s duties, despite the departments not being on the Group itself.
Getting Ahead
The AIGEG has emerged as an amalgamation of requirements under the AI Governance Framework and the need for an ‘AI Economic Council,’ as highlighted in the Economic Survey. ‘By embedding labour realities and social stability priorities into AI policy, the institution will ensure that AI advances productivity without eroding employment and the dignity of work,” the 2026 Eco Survey said.
Jameela Sahiba, Associate Director, The Dialogue, a public policy think-tank, said that the Committee’s role is consequential as it attempts to get ahead of economic disruption before it lands. “Classifying AI use cases into “deploy/pilot/defer” buckets acknowledges that not all AI adoption should proceed at the same pace, and that sequencing matters enormously in a labour market as complex and informal as India’s,” Sahiba said.
“That said, the true strength will depend on how well it enables a whole-of-government approach as handling AI-led job displacement and designing reskilling pathways can’t be done by a single body in isolation,” she added.
Published on April 18, 2026