NCAER Inaugural Workshop on the Economics of AI & Digital Public Infrastructure

5 June 2026 10:00 am - 6 June 2026 6:00 pm IST

Agenda Panelists

 

Curtain Raiser

 

The Workshop

This conclave brought together senior policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, and leading academics from around the world to shape a forward-looking research and policy agenda at the intersection of AI, digital public infrastructure and economic governance. India’s digital infrastructure—Aadhaar, UPI, GSTN, FASTag, and telecom platforms—have generated unprecedented real-time data streams. As multiple panel discussions emphasized, these are transformative for evidence-based policymaking, real-time economic measurement and AI-enabled governance. The central objective of this workshop was to identify three priority research programmes that can unlock these data ecosystems responsibly and productively for national development.

The Panel Explored:

Why Economics of AI and DPI Matters for India
From Transactions to Insights: Building a Research Ecosystem Around UPI, FASTag, and GST.
Making AI Work for Humanity.
Technology, Regulation, and Behavioral Outcomes.
AI, Governance and Future of Work.
Defining Three Priority Research Programs for India’s AI and DPI Future.


Why AI-DPI

Parisila Perspectives: Episode I: AI-DPI

In the inaugural episode of Parisila Perspectives, NCAER’s new podcast series on macroeconomics and public policy, Suresh Goyal, Director General of NCAER, speaks with Manish Sabharwal, Co-founder of TeamLease Services and Vice Chairman of NCAER, on a defining question for India’s economic future: how can Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) together shape India’s journey to Viksit Bharat 2047?

The wide-ranging conversation cuts a swath across India Stack, UPI, Aadhaar and AI diffusion to productivity, growth, labour markets, skilling, governance, and the future of policy and society. It outlines a new compulsion for India’s unique digital architecture, which must leverage its success with mass inclusion to deliver mass prosperity. Importantly, the two stalwarts make a case for AI-DPI research and its criticality to policy, product development and praxis – a conviction that underpins the launch of NCAER’s new research centre on the economics of AI and DPI.

Image Gallery

    Get updates from NCAER