India has updated its criteria for recognizing frontier technology enterprises, extending the qualification period to 20 years to encourage innovation through tax incentives and government funding. According to Jin10, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry clarified last week that companies operating in fields such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and advanced materials, with annual revenue not exceeding 3 billion Indian Rupees (approximately $33.1 million), can be classified as frontier tech enterprises. Digital platforms and consumer applications, which previously dominated India's startup ecosystem and received most government funding, are now excluded from this category.
This policy change comes ahead of New Delhi hosting its largest-ever artificial intelligence conference next week. The event is expected to attract leading figures in the AI sector, including OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.