India's AI Moment: $676M in Startup Funding, 1.5 Lakh Skilled, and a Workforce Being Restructured

Indian AI startups pulled in $676 million in H1 2026 — a staggering 4x jump from $162 million in the same period last year, according to Inc42 data released alongside the announcement of its inaugural CTO Summit. That funding spike is happening even as overall Indian tech startup funding declined 9% year-on-year, meaning AI is effectively sucking the oxygen out of every other vertical. Meanwhile, the government moved on the supply side: NSDC launched a nationwide cloud and AI...