Shillong, Dec 3: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday stated that global companies are sourcing high-end solutions from Meghalaya, noting that a key module used in the S/4 HANA Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) migration sector was developed in Shillong by a local engineer.
Addressing the Regional AI Impact Conference here, Sangma said the industry is valued at around USD 10 billion. “Even a ten percent share of this market has the potential to generate up to Rs 9,000 crore in business and create thousands of jobs for our young people,” he said.
Stating that Meghalaya is steadily emerging as a leader in the IT sector in the Northeast and advancing its capabilities in AI, he said the State is leveraging technology for governance.
Pointing out that data-driven interventions have helped reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate by nearly 50 per cent, the Chief Minister said technology has enabled mapping of over 75,000 springs to address water preservation and data-based scientific assessments helped reduce the cost of a proposed water supply project from nearly Rs 100 crore to just Rs 4.5 crore.
He also stressed the importance of ecosystem development, including improving connectivity, strengthening hospitality infrastructure, supporting engineering education, and nurturing talent in emerging fields such as AI and quantum computing.
Addressing the gathering virtually, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed that the Central government has allocated Rs 10,300 crore over five years to build an inclusive AI ecosystem.
A Common Compute Facility has been created to give universal access to high-end AI resources, with over 38,000 GPUs already onboarded at a fraction of global costs. He noted that 3,800 datasets and more than 250 open-source models have been made available to innovators and developers, enabling faster and more affordable AI-based application development.
The Minister added that India’s goal is to train one million people in AI skills, which will be a defining factor for employability in the future. He added that 570 Data & AI Labs are being established across the country, where one lab is set up at National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, Shillong (NIELIT), and two more labs are to be established in Industrial Training Institute, (ITI) Shillong, and Shillong Polytechnic. A lab at ITI Tura is also on the pipeline.
A series of initiatives and MoUs under the IndiaAI Mission were also launched, namely, Bhashini Hackathon for Khasi and Garo languages, Meghalaya Digital Ecosystem Enablement (MeghDEE), DRISHTI-NE Hackathon, in collaboration with IIM Shillong and MATH, MoU for setting up a Data & AI Lab with IndiaAI Mission and MoU for establishing a Satellite Incubation Centre with MATH T-Hub.
The conference was organised by the IndiaAI Mission, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in collaboration with the State Information Technology & Communications Department.
