India Launches AIM Global Chapter to Accelerate AI Adoption for MSMEs

India has taken a decisive step toward shaping the future of AI-driven industrial transformation with the launch of the India Regional Chapter as a part of the AIM Global Alliance, a global initiative led by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to advance inclusive, sustainable, and globally competitive industrial growth.

This milestone follows the formalisation of collaboration between India SME Forum and UNIDO through a Joint Declaration signed in Vienna in October 2025, which reflects a shared commitment to fostering innovation, accelerating digital transformation, and strengthening MSME competitiveness as a pathway to sustainable industrial development.

Building on this partnership, the AIM (AI for Industry & Manufacturing) India Regional Chapter was officially launched on 11 February 2026 at the World Futures Forum 2026, marking a significant step in India’s efforts to embed AI across manufacturing ecosystems, particularly among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The launch was inaugurated by Shri Jitan Ram Manjhi, Hon’ble Minister of MSME, Government of India, highlighting the government’s commitment to leveraging emerging technologies to enhance industrial competitiveness and productivity, while aligning India’s AI adoption pathway with UNIDO’s global framework for responsible and inclusive industrial development.

Within this framework, the India Regional Chapter serves as a key national implementation pillar of the broader AIM Global programme. UNIDO will provide strategic direction, enable global knowledge exchange, support the development of standards and governance approaches, and facilitate collaboration between international technology partners and domestic industrial ecosystems, ensuring that India’s AI transition remains globally benchmarked while grounded in local industry needs.

A Platform for Action, Not Just Dialogue

AIM Global is envisioned as more than a knowledge-sharing forum. It is designed as a regional action platform that connects policy frameworks, technological innovation, skills development, and real industry needs. Its core objective is to enable Indian manufacturers, especially MSMEs, to adopt AI in ways that are safe, practical, and scalable.

For smaller enterprises, AI adoption often remains constrained by high costs, lack of technical expertise, and limited awareness of use cases. The India chapter seeks to bridge these gaps by facilitating pilot deployments, building industry-ready toolkits, and creating pathways for capacity building. By aligning stakeholders across government, industry, academia, and technology providers, the platform aims to accelerate the transition from experimentation to real productivity gains.

Why India Is Positioned to Lead

The launch of the India chapter comes at a time when the country is uniquely positioned to lead AI-driven industrial transformation, particularly for the Global South. India combines several structural advantages: a rapidly expanding AI market, growing enterprise-level adoption, one of the world’s largest AI talent pools, and a robust digital public infrastructure that enables scalable innovation. These factors create fertile ground for building replicable models of AI adoption that can be extended to other emerging economies. The chapter is expected to play a catalytic role in translating India’s digital strengths into manufacturing competitiveness, helping enterprises integrate AI across functions such as predictive maintenance, supply-chain optimisation, quality control, and energy efficiency.

The India Chapter translates vision into action by delivering practical AI adoption pathways for industry, structured workforce transformation programmes, policy and standards alignment, and a strong global-to-local knowledge exchange framework. At its core are the AIM Centres of Excellence (CoEs), beginning with two flagship centres in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, designed to operationalise AI deployment for MSMEs through a Hub-and-Spoke model. These CoEs will provide SMEs with access to tested solutions, trained talent, and clearly defined technology adoption roadmaps. Built around key pillars including an Intelligent Manufacturing Hub, Workforce Transformation Platforms, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Spaces, a Policy Innovation Hub, and an Outreach and Knowledge Studio, the centres aim to create a comprehensive ecosystem that supports scalable, responsible, and industry-ready AI integration.

Strong MSME Backbone Through Industry Partnership

A defining feature of the India chapter is its strong industry anchoring through the partnership with India SME Forum, one of the country’s largest MSME member-based organisations. Representing a wide and diverse network of enterprises across sectors and geographies, the Forum brings deep grassroots connectivity to the initiative.

Through this collaboration, the chapter will drive structured MSME outreach, industry mobilisation, and policy advocacy. It will also facilitate engagement between technology providers, manufacturing clusters, and government stakeholders, ensuring that AI solutions are grounded in real operational challenges rather than theoretical models.

This approach is particularly critical because MSMEs account for a significant share of India’s manufacturing output and employment but often lag in technology adoption. By embedding AI within cluster-level ecosystems and supply chains, the initiative aims to create network effects that lower adoption barriers and spread productivity gains across value chains. Beyond technology deployment, the chapter will focus on building trust and readiness around AI. This includes promoting responsible AI practices, supporting workforce reskilling, and developing standards that help enterprises adopt AI ethically and securely.

Skill development will be a central pillar, with training programs aimed at both technical and managerial levels to ensure that enterprises can not only deploy AI tools but also integrate them into business processes effectively. By combining skills with access to solutions and financing pathways, the platform seeks to create a holistic ecosystem for digital transformation.

A Strategic Step Toward Future-Ready Manufacturing

The launch of the AIM Global India Regional Chapter signals a shift from isolated digital initiatives to a coordinated national effort to mainstream AI in industry. It reflects a broader policy vision that sees technology not just as a productivity tool but as a driver of inclusive growth, export competitiveness, and resilient supply chains. As global manufacturing enters a new era defined by automation, data, and intelligent systems, initiatives like AIM Global position India to shape the rules rather than merely adapt to them. By focusing on MSMEs, the backbone of the industrial economy, the chapter has the potential to democratise access to advanced technologies and ensure that the benefits of AI-led growth are widely shared.

With strong institutional backing, industry participation, and a clear implementation focus, the India chapter is poised to become a key enabler of the country’s journey toward future-ready manufacturing and leadership in the next phase of global industrial transformation.