India’s artificial intelligence (AI) opportunity could extend well beyond the $100 billion discussed by industry leaders, with the technology potentially adding $1 trillion to the country’s GDP by 2035. For startups, the opportunity lies in using AI to address large, underserved markets and building businesses that can scale across India and beyond.

At a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, founder & CEO, YourStory and The Bharat Project at Techsparks 2026 on the topic - India’s $100 Billion AI Opportunity, Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments and M&A, India, Prosus, and Keshav Reddy, Founder and CEO of Equal AI, highlighted how the technology could transform businesses, improve productivity and create new categories of consumer and enterprise companies.

Ashutosh Sharma said previous technology waves, particularly the internet and smartphones, created large businesses by democratising access to products and services. AI could take this transformation further by democratising access to intelligence.

“We are taking one more step. We are democratising something else, something new, and something much more powerful, and that’s intelligence. Everyone, after the proliferation of AI, will be more intelligent, more productive than before,” he said.

He added that the internet and smartphone revolutions had already generated businesses worth billions of dollars by helping consumers meet previously unmet needs.

“There is no doubt in my mind. With something that is more powerful, the outcomes will only be larger. $100 billion, trillion? I don’t know,” he said, pointing to the potentially enormous scale of the AI opportunity.

For Indian startups, Ashutosh Sharma believes the opportunity exists across virtually every sector.

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