The 'Frugal' Edge: How India is Building World-Class AI Without the Silicon Valley Price Tag?

At the AI Summit and Awards 2026, Mr. Gaurav Baid (Co-founder at Avataar AI) took the stage to speak on ‘Scaling AI Businesses: From Models to Market’.  He was realistic in laying down the potential of AI in daily life, but also pointed out the challenges and efforts needed to overcome said challenges. 

Here’s a brief lay down of what he covered in his session.

AI’s Impact on Daily Life

Mr. Baid’s session stands out as a look into how AI becomes an incentive instead of a deterrent in a number of fields. In simple words, how AI positively impacts daily life, especially in 2 sectors that are normally a footnote in the discussion about AI.

One of them is Agriculture, which is still an occupational source for the majority of Indians. Mr. Baid pointed to the presence of AI models that provide farmers with information on soil, water levels, pests, and diseases, even connecting them to insurance schemes for benefits.

The second field he mentions is that of Education. He highlighted that in a linguistically diverse country like India, personalized AI tutors speaking vernacular languages can significantly improve education, especially in remote areas with high student-to-teacher ratios. 

Challenges in India’s AI Development

The challenges Mr. Baid means here don’t refer to things we cannot do, but rather steps to ensure that our journey to AI efficiency doesn’t lose steam on the way. In explaining these challenges, he metaphorically compares it with climbing a mountain.

The first ‘challenge’ he talks about is the Map Challenge. Just like you need a map to trek a mountain successfully, he says that one needs the right amount of structured data to train any AI model out there. 

Secondly, he talks about the Oxygen Challenge. Having a map isn’t enough if you don’t have the stamina and oxygen capacity to complete the trip. Similarly, AI models need the right computing capacity, the GPUs and TPUs to train and eventually to run.  

Third came the Trust Challenge. Having the resources doesn't ensure that the trek will be safe enough. Similarly, there is the ‘hallucination problem’ in AI, which makes it difficult to trust the fairness and understand how models arrive at their answers.

Finally, there is the Workflow Integration Challenge. Though not associated with his mountain trekking example, this challenge was an important part of this conversation. It basically refers to the application layer and integration of AI into existing workflows for enterprises.

However, Mr. Baid also went on to lay out the steps taken by the government to deal with said challenges. He mentions initiatives like AI Kosh under the India AI Mission, which provides over 7000 datasets across various domains. Furthermore, he talks about how the Prime Minister’s initiatives have  allocated 38,000 GPUs and TPUs at highly subsidized rates (₹65 per hour), giving India a unique advantage in model training and application development. Finally, he mentioned the efforts that are underway to build a unified AI interface (UAI) similar to UPI for AI, aiming to bring trust and safety into the system.

India’s unique AI strengths

Indian AI models have an edge even over the globally renowned ones like ChatGPT, as these models are trained with data coming from different ethnicities, regions, and cultural differences. Mr. Baid mentions the BHASHINI model in this regard, pointing out that it covers over 35 Indian languages with greater depth and breadth than any global counterpart. This makes it easier for Indian AI models to understand the cultural nuances, festivals and expressions.

Furthermore, he talked about Avataar's video AI model being developed at 1/3rd the cost of Chinese competitors. This way, he reflected the Indian "frugal innovation" that includes building efficient and culturally relevant AI solutions at a fraction of the cost.

Who is Gaurav Baid?

Gaurav Baid is a tech entrepreneur and co-founder & Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Avataar AI (often referenced simply as Avataar). He founded this deep tech AI and computer vision company to focus on transforming how products are discovered and experienced digitally.

Avataar helps brands and e-commerce marketplaces turn flat 2D product media into interactive 3D experiences using AI and AR, allowing customers to see products at life-size and visualise them in their own environments. So, be it large retailers, marketplaces or D2C brands, Avataar AI aids them all in bridging the gap between traditional online shopping and immersive, real-world perception.

It is this experience from practically deploying AI tech and owning multiple patents in 3D rendering and spatial AI that Gaurav Baid brought to the AI Summit and Awards 2026.

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