Description: This report examines market structure across four interconnected layers of the AI value chain: infrastructure (cloud and specialised hardware), models, data, and applications. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely recognised as a general-purpose technology with transformative potential across economic sectors. Its rapid advancement has sparked intense debate about market concentration and competitive dynamics across the AI value chain.
The report draws on a primary survey of 227 firms across the infrastructure, foundation model, data, and application segments of the AI ecosystem. It finds that India’s AI ecosystem remains dynamic and contestable across layers, with firms actively adopting multi-cloud strategies, combining open-source and proprietary models, and experimenting with decentralised deployment architectures
Attribution: Meghna Bal, Aaqib Qayoom, and Avneet Oberoi. An Empirical Assessment of India’s AI Value Chain: Market Structure, Competition, and Innovation Dynamics. May 2026, Esya Centre.