Deadline Date: February 22, 2026
The IndiaAI Innovation Challenge 2026, in partnership with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and the Ministry of AYUSH, is calling for market-ready AI solutions to address high-impact public sector challenges in MSME governance and AYUSH-enabled public health systems.
The focus areas and objectives of the challenge include analysing complex datasets and generating actionable insights, supporting predictive and decision-making processes, integrating with existing digital systems, ensuring scalability, security, and deployment readiness, complying with national data protection and cybersecurity frameworks, and enabling long-term adoption within public sector environments. The Challenge seeks to identify, pilot, and scale AI solutions within government systems to improve service delivery, enhance institutional efficiency, and enable data-driven decision-making in collaboration with relevant Line Ministries. Selected innovators will receive structured pilot and deployment support, and successful projects may secure a two-year government work contract of up to INR 1 crore, contingent on performance and alignment with the scope of work.
Expected outputs from the challenge include AI-enabled virtual assistants for MSME digital dispute resolution that support automated intake, document analysis, outcome prediction, multilingual interaction, and assisted settlement drafting; AI-driven tools for automated onboarding, classification, and intelligent matching of vendors and entities based on attributes, capabilities, and operational requirements; and AI-based platforms for disease trend detection, public health risk forecasting, and personalised treatment and lifestyle recommendations in AYUSH-enabled health systems using large-scale historical data.
Eligible applicants include Indian companies registered under the Companies Act, 2013, with at least 51% Indian ownership, start-ups recognised under DPIIT guidelines, autonomous bodies including public sector organisations, research institutions, universities, and non-profit organisations, as well as individuals such as Indian students, researchers, and working professionals affiliated with recognised institutions.
For more information, visit IndiaAI.
