Beyond the IT Act, MeitY is in talks with the industry for a new AI law: “It’s a very complex topic. Certain things have been done under the IT Act framework. But I do think that there is a requirement for a new law because the world of AI is very different from the world when the IT Act was enacted in 2000. We are discussing with the industry to come up with a framework. As always, our objective and approach will be to balance innovation and regulation in a manner that allows innovation to continue while ensuring our citizens remain safe,” said Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw in an interview with Press Trust of India. You can watch the full interview on The Hindu’s YouTube channel.
At the end of the interview, he further reiterated that “Yes, there is a need for a new [AI] law” and added that “it will require a lot of work with the industry.” His latest statement completely contradicts the earlier views of MeitY and Vaishnaw himself.
Quick reminder: In December 2025, MeitY’s Secretary S Krishnan clarified that the government is not planning a new dedicated AI law. “As it is, we are a country with many laws… So my own inclination always is to avoid putting in a new law, a new regulation, unless you absolutely have to. Try to see what we can do with existing law,” he reportedly said in an interview with The Week.
A few more instances in which the Indian government expressed its disinterest in regulating AI, either through a dedicated law, the existing IT Act or the now-stalled Digital India Act.
- Indian government didn’t want to throttle development by regulating AI: In November 2025, while releasing AI Governance Guidelines, Professor Balaraman Ravindran, the Chair of the committee that drafted the Guidelines said, “We are not calling it the AI Regulation of India or anything like that because we don’t want it to be viewed as something that is coming to throttle AI development and adoption in India.” Read MediaNama’s explainer on AI Governance Guidelines here.
- AI Regulation would’ve been under now-stalled Digital India Act: In May 2023, then Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that AI regulation would be part of now-stalled Digital India Act. “What I said very clearly is that we intend to regulate AI to the prism of user harm, and we will create guardrails for AI, guardrails for Web three, and any other emerging technologies going forward that will be through the prism of user harm. And we are going to prescribe that in the Digital India Act,” said Chandrasekhar.
- Indian government is not considering a new law for AI, said Vaishnaw: Similarly, in the same year, 2023, the IT Ministry said in its parliamentary reply that it will not regulate AI in India. “The government is not considering bringing a law or regulating the growth of artificial intelligence in the country,” read Vaishnaw’s reply.
India will be getting Mythos access ‘very soon’, awaiting US govt approval: “We will be getting access to Mythos very soon. Anthropic has already reached out to us, and we are in discussions. Of course, they require permission from the US government, which is where our External Affairs Ministry, under the guidance of the Prime Minister’s office, is working consistently to secure access to Mythos,” he clarified.
This clarification comes amid various news reports indicating that India got access to Anthropic’s most coveted AI model, Mythos. At the time of writing this report, there is no official confirmation from either Anthropic or the Indian government. However, citing anonymous sources, some publications have reported that Indian organizations have access to Mythos. Some of those publications are: [ Financial Times | Economic Times | Money Control | NDTV Profit ]
He also added: “As soon as Mythic came out, the first thing we did was to sensitize our entire banking and financial sector. The Honorable Finance Minister and I convened a meeting with all the banks and financial sector players, and they have been consistently working since then to identify vulnerabilities using the available resources and models, testing their IT systems, consumer-facing systems, and core business solutions against these models so that they can identify vulnerabilities and patch them.”
Recent March IT draft amendments aimed to tackle fake news irrespective of who publishes it: “The question is very simple; whether fake news should be allowed to stay on social media or not. Who generates the fake news was never a point of contention. If fake news is generated by a newspaper or by any other person, fake news is fake news. It must be treated equally,” he said when the interviewer asked about recent March IT draft amendments, which aims to bring news and current affairs -related content creators too under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Explore MediaNama’s reporting on March IT Draft amendments here: [ Explainer | MeitY’s press briefing | Event Stories | Stakeholder Submissions ]
Removing AI deepfakes is the responsibility of the government: “Wherever deepfake videos exist, it is the duty and responsibility of the government to ensure that if any deepfake video propagates factually false news, it has to be removed. At the end of the day, society is built on trust between institutions, and that trust has to be strengthened. To strengthen trust and belief in what you see, whether that is true or false or genuine or deepfake, various technological methods must be employed. That is what we are doing in terms of content creation and moderation.
AI Deepfakes are a big concern and require technical and legal solutions: “It’s becoming a big point of concern because absolutely realistic videos can be generated using AI, and people can be misled into believing false propaganda or misinformation. So it’s very important that we come up with both technological and legal solutions for this.”
He further added that “only a fraction of the content created is deepfake and harmful to society, and that is what is being removed.”
On social media bans or age gating: “We have the DPDP provisions already,” the Minister replied when PTI asked about the age gating of children from social media. He didn’t expand on how/why the existing provisions of the DPDP Act are sufficient for age-gating children from accessing social media or the internet.
MeitY is in touch with NASSCOM regarding AI-driven job layoffs: “We are constantly in touch with the IT industry. NASCOM has been taking the lead in that for the last three years. We are continuously upgrading and revising the course curriculum. The IT industry is working with universities to develop dedicated courses that are important for today’s technologies. Whenever such a large, significant change in technology occurs, it becomes very important for the industry to work with academia and ensure that both are aligned with the requirements of the new world.”
In another interview with ANI’s Smita Prakash, Ashwini Vaishnaw made these key statements related to AI. Watch the full interview here.
Indian Railways is using AI for maintenance, predicting passenger load and law enforcement: “I can give you examples from railways, such as in maintenance activities, in predicting passenger load at particular stations, and in better enforcement of law and order.”
India AI Mission produced 700 AI models: “From what I hear from the industry, practically every sector in India is today using AI in a very significant way. AI diffusion is happening, with people using small models that are available in open source and from our AI companies. From our AI mission, we have made about 700 odd small models that are accessible to people free of cost. People are using those to gain productivity improvements through AI.”
Also Read:
