Making AI work where governance is closest to people

India’s next governance leap may not solely come from digitisation. It will come from making public systems more intelligent, more adaptive, and more responsive to the dynamics at the grassroots. That opportunity is especially significant at the panchayat level, where governance is not an abstract policy but an everyday interface between the State and citizens.

The scale is already formidable. As of FY 2025–26, India had 264,211 gram panchayats and equivalent bodies, while Direct Benefit Transfer systems had cumulatively transferred ₹49,88,905 crores, including ₹6,23,424 crore in FY 2025–26 alone, across 325 schemes run by 56 ministries.