IPE Chandigarh
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, while reviewing the progress of the Haryana AI Development Programme (HAIDP) in Chandigarh on Wednesday said that Rs 474 crore initiative being developed jointly with the World Bank under a 70:30 funding arrangement between the Bank and the state. It was informed in the meeting that the Preliminary Project Report (PPR) of the programme has been approved by the Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India, in January this year, following clearances from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and NITI Aayog. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) for HAIDP is expected to be submitted in June. The programme aims to skill over one lakh residents in artificial intelligence and incubate more than 100 startups, among other objectives. It is structured around five key pillars aligned with the IndiaAI Mission, namely skilling and workforce development, startup financing and incubation, compute and datasets, use cases and applications, and ethical AI governance.
The review meeting was held following a two-day visit by a World Bank mission team to Panchkula on April 6 and 7. On the first day, various government departments were requested to identify potential AI use cases. Departments have been given 15 days to submit their inputs, after which priority use cases will be finalised for the state’s AI Innovation Sandbox.
The AI Innovation Sandbox is envisaged as a “test before invest” platform that will identify, validate and pilot AI solutions across priority sectors. The sandbox is fully funded by the World Bank.
On the second day of the visit, the mission team held a roundtable interaction with private sector firms. Discussions focused on compute procurement models, skilling initiatives and startup incubation frameworks.
Separately, the state is also pursuing two AI hubs under the IndiaAI Mission. The Haryana Advanced Computing Facility (HACF), proposed to be set up in Panchkula in partnership with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), is designed as a compute-intensive research facility. The Global Artificial Intelligence Centre (GAIC), planned in Gurugram in collaboration with NASSCOM, is envisaged as an incubation and industry collaboration hub. Fresh proposals for both facilities have recently been submitted to MeitY.
