AI funding in India jumped 58 per cent in 2025 to $1.22 billion across 188 deals, according to IDTA’s inaugural AI and Deep Tech Investments Landscape: 2026 Edition report. The India Deep Tech Alliance (IDTA) is set to announce increased investments in the artificial intelligence and deeptech ecosystem on Tuesday. IDTA members have collectively committed more than $2.5 billion over five years, with $1 billion earmarked for AI deployment within three years, IDTA chair Arun Kumar told ET.
AI funding in India jumped 58 per cent in 2025 to $1.22 billion across 188 deals, according to IDTA’s inaugural AI and Deep Tech Investments Landscape: 2026 Edition report. Deeptech accounted for $2.1 billion across 289 deals, lifting its share of India’s VC-PE activity to 15 per cent from just 4 per cent in 2016.
“India’s AI and deeptech breakout is now measurable,” said Kumar, who is also the India managing partner at Celesta Capital. “Within IDTA members’ more than $2.5 billion in commitments, we’re concentrating firepower: $1 billion specifically for AI, to help Indian companies commercialise breakthrough IP and compete globally across every layer of the stack.”
The capital push is being reinforced by the entry of major corporate strategic partners. Applied Materials, CG Power & Industrial Solutions, Lam Research, Larsen & Toubro and Micron Technology have joined the alliance, following Nvidia’s earlier entry as a founding member and strategic and technical adviser, he said.
Kumar said capital alone is insufficient in AI and deeptech. “You need manufacturing guidance, reliability engineering, deployment advice, and lab-to-fab transitions. Corporate partners bring complementary expertise that venture investors cannot.”
The partners are expected to provide mentorship, co-development opportunities, access to innovation centres and policy input: creating what IDTA describes as an integrated platform spanning semiconductors, materials, power systems, advanced manufacturing and AI.
According to Kumar and Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of Chiratae Ventures and an IDTA executive committee member, investments will span the full technology stack, from semiconductors and infrastructure to foundation models and applications.
“We study every layer: data, compute, model training, optimisation and applications,” Sethi said. “India may not replicate foundational model builds worth billions of dollars overnight, but we can build capital-efficient, globally competitive layers tailored for Indian and global markets.”
Sethi added that India is moving from “capital positive” to “capital adequacy”, with aspirations of eventual capital abundance, mirroring trajectories seen in the US and China, but with India’s hallmark capital efficiency.
Focus areas
Semiconductors, particularly fabless design, are expected to be a major focus, aided by India’s design-linked incentives and deep engineering talent pool, Kumar and Sethi said. Robotics, aerospace, advanced manufacturing and AI-led healthcare also feature prominently.
Both Celesta and Chiratae have active portfolios in these segments. Kumar cited investments in semiconductor services, AI-enabled radiology platforms, advanced biology, and drones such as IdeaForge. Sethi highlighted AI companies across application and infrastructure layers with revenue ranging from $25 million to $100 million, pointing to increasing monetisation maturity.
Space tech is emerging as another frontier. Their portfolio companies are exploring novel infrastructure models such as data centres in low Earth orbit, potentially unlocking new customer categories beyond traditional satellite operators.
“Deeptech means new products, new markets, new business models,” Kumar said. “If successful, these innovations will create entirely new classes of customers.”
Monetisation over hype
Amid global chatter about an AI bubble, IDTA leaders remain cautious but optimistic.
“There will be many entrants, some will succeed in a big way, some won’t,” Kumar said. “But India is still early in its deeptech capital cycle. Valuations are reasonable.”
Sethi echoed the sentiment, arguing that bubble dynamics arise when valuations outrun value creation. “India is just seeing deeptech capital begin to scale. The opportunity lies in translating capital into commercialisation and growth.”
That commercialisation push is already underway. Since its launch last September, IDTA members have deployed $110 million across more than 50 startups.
Policy tailwinds
The alliance also aligns with the government’s ₹1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund, seeking to bridge research, capital, and market adoption.
It will also announce ecosystem partnerships, including collaborations aimed at strengthening India-US pathways for founders, providing global market access and entrepreneurship expertise, the members said.
The overarching ambition, Kumar said, is clear. “IDTA is designed to align capital, technology, and policy so that India can emerge not just as a participant, but as a trusted global hub for next-generation technologies.”
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