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India’s ‘Third Way’ for AI governance

February 18, 2026 4 min read Science & Technology International Relations GS2 (Governance international organisations) GS3 (Science and Technology AI policy)
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What Happened

  • A policy analysis circulating in Indian strategic and technology circles articulated India's emerging "Third Way" for AI governance — a framework distinct from both the US market-driven, innovation-first model and the EU's compliance-heavy, risk-classification regime under its AI Act.
  • India released its AI Governance Framework based on seven guiding principles (trust, human-centrism, responsible innovation, fairness and equity, accountability, understandability by design, and safety and sustainability), adopting a principle-based, techno-legal approach rather than imposing prescriptive regulatory mandates.
  • India's framework emphasises voluntary commitments, self-certification, transparency reports, and third-party audits as primary compliance mechanisms — deliberately avoiding the EU's mandatory pre-market conformity assessments for high-risk AI systems.
  • The government also amended the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules to mandate labelling of AI-generated content and require harmful content takedown within a three-hour window — one of the world's first national-level mandates on explicit AI-generated content disclosure.
  • India is positioning itself as the articulator of a governance model suited to the Global South: jurisdictions that need to leverage AI for inclusive growth without the institutional and financial capacity for EU-style compliance regimes.

Static Topic Bridges

Global AI Governance Frameworks: US, EU, and China

AI governance refers to the legal, regulatory, ethical, and institutional frameworks that govern the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence systems. Three dominant governance philosophies have emerged globally, each reflecting distinct political economies and strategic priorities.

  • United States Model: Largely market-driven with sectoral guidance rather than centralised legislation. Relies on voluntary commitments from companies (White House AI commitments), executive orders (Biden's 2023 AI Executive Order), and state-level laws. Prioritises innovation speed and competitiveness, particularly vis-à-vis China.
  • European Union Model (AI Act): A risk-classification, compliance-heavy legislative framework adopted in 2024 — the world's first comprehensive AI law. Classifies AI applications by risk level (unacceptable, high, limited, minimal) and requires pre-market conformity assessments, regulatory sandboxes, and significant documentation for high-risk applications. Fines up to 6% of global annual revenue for violations.
  • China Model: Centrally directed, state-controlled governance with emphasis on data sovereignty, algorithm registration, and political content moderation. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has issued successive regulations on recommendation algorithms, deep synthesis (deepfakes), and generative AI since 2022.

Connection to this news: India's "Third Way" explicitly rejects both the regulatory overhead of the EU model and the laissez-faire approach of the US, while also avoiding China's censorship-driven framework — seeking to be both innovation-friendly and ethically grounded.

India's Digital Governance Architecture

India's approach to technology governance has evolved through a series of legislative and regulatory milestones, building a distinctive "regulatory federalism" of layered digital governance.

  • IT Act 2000 (Information Technology Act): India's foundational digital law, governing cybercrime, e-commerce, and intermediary liability. Section 69A enables government-ordered content blocking.
  • IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2021: Strengthened platform accountability, required significant social media intermediaries to appoint a Grievance Officer (Indian resident), a Nodal Officer, and a Chief Compliance Officer.
  • Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2023: India's first comprehensive data protection law, modelled loosely on GDPR but with significant concessions to government data access. Establishes a Data Protection Board (DPB) as the adjudicatory body.
  • National AI Strategy (NITI Aayog, 2018): India's first articulation of an AI strategy, focusing on AI for social good across sectors (healthcare, agriculture, education).
  • IndiaAI Mission (2024): Government initiative with ₹10,371 crore allocation for AI compute infrastructure, foundational model development, data governance, and AI skilling.

Connection to this news: India's AI Governance Framework builds on this layered digital governance architecture — the DPDPA provides the personal data foundation, while the new AI framework provides sector-agnostic principles that apply across application domains.

AI Governance and India's Strategic Interests

India's positioning on AI governance has dimensions beyond domestic regulation — it is also a foreign policy tool, a standard-setting ambition in multilateral forums, and a competitive economic strategy.

  • India's G20 presidency in 2023 resulted in the adoption of AI principles by the G20 Leaders' Declaration, reflecting India's effort to shape global AI governance norms in developing-country-friendly directions.
  • India participates in the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) — a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in 2020 — and hosted GPAI's 2023 summit in New Delhi.
  • India's "Digital Public Infrastructure" (DPI) stack — Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker — is being actively promoted as a governance model for other developing nations through the India Stack initiative, creating a parallel track of "governance export."
  • The AI Act of the EU has implications for Indian software companies exporting AI services to EU markets, as they must comply with EU-side requirements — making India's domestic framework a factor in bilateral trade negotiations.

Connection to this news: India's "Third Way" is not merely a domestic regulatory choice but a claim to global governance leadership — particularly important as AI norms harden into binding international standards through bodies like the OECD, UNESCO, and the ITU.

Key Facts & Data

  • India's AI Governance Framework: seven guiding principles — trust, human-centrism, responsible innovation, fairness and equity, accountability, understandability by design, safety and sustainability.
  • EU AI Act: adopted 2024 — world's first comprehensive AI legislation; fines up to 6% of global annual revenue.
  • IndiaAI Mission allocation: ₹10,371 crore (approved 2024).
  • Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA): enacted August 2023.
  • G20 AI principles: adopted under India's G20 Presidency, 2023.
  • IT Rule amendment on AI-generated content: mandates disclosure labelling and harmful content removal within 3 hours.
  • GPAI (Global Partnership on AI): established 2020; India hosted 2023 summit in New Delhi.