Google India exec: Half of next Indian unicorns will be AI startups

Seema Rao’s forecast that more than half of India’s next unicorns will be AI companies is both a bet on the technology and a signal of how global the AGI race has become. India has long been a services powerhouse, but the combination of cheap developer talent, a huge domestic market, and increasingly supportive digital policy is now being framed as a launchpad for AI product companies rather than just outsourcing shops.([indianexpress.com](https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-india-ai-startups-seema-rao-10476210/))

If even part of that prediction comes true, it would mean a surge of capital, talent, and data flowing into Indian AI startups over the next five years—many of which will build on or compete with Western foundation models. The strategic implication is that India could become the dominant hub for applied AI in areas like fintech, logistics, vernacular language tools and public-service delivery, even if it never runs the very largest training runs. For frontier labs, that’s both an opportunity and a warning: India’s ecosystem may decide to prioritize open, sovereign or locally aligned models over whichever closed systems Silicon Valley exports.