India has launched the Prime Minister Research Chair (PMRC) scheme to attract Indian-origin AI researchers and scientists from global institutions back to the country. The initiative, announced recently, targets thirteen strategic sectors including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum computing. It offers research grants, infrastructure support, and institutional backing to encourage top talent to work with premier Indian universities and national laboratories, according to inc42.com.
The PMRC scheme aims to reverse the decades-long trend of Indian researchers contributing to breakthroughs abroad at institutions like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and Meta. The government plans to provide comprehensive support to researchers, helping them tackle challenging problems within India’s scientific ecosystem. Umakant Soni, cofounder of Bharat1, highlighted that researchers seek to work on the toughest global problems, and India’s effort is to create similarly compelling missions domestically, inc42.com reported.
This move is significant as India has historically exported much of its AI talent to Silicon Valley and other global tech hubs, limiting domestic innovation in cutting-edge fields. By focusing on strategic sectors and offering substantial incentives, the PMRC scheme positions India to enhance its standing in the global AI research landscape. The initiative follows examples like the Manhattan Project and Apollo programme, which attracted top scientists by focusing on large-scale, high-impact missions, inc42.com noted.
The PMRC scheme’s success will be measured by the number of researchers it attracts and the breakthroughs achieved within India’s institutions. The government has not disclosed specific targets yet, but the initiative marks a clear policy shift to build a robust AI research environment domestically, with the first appointments expected to be announced later this year, according to inc42.com.