As India accelerates its vision of a Digital Bharat, the convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Open Source has become not just an enabler—but a national imperative. At the OpenGov India 2025 forum, powered by EDB and hosted in partnership with Express Computer, leaders from the government, technology, and policy domains came together to shape the blueprint for India’s sovereign, scalable, and secure digital future.
Redefining Public Infrastructure for the Digital Age
In his keynote, IPS Sethi, Deputy Director General at NIC, emphasized that Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is not just about platforms—it’s about empowerment at scale. He reiterated that the foundational principles of DPI must be open, interoperable, secure, and sovereign.
“DPI must be open by nature—no vendor lock-in, no proprietary limitations. It should be accessible, interoperable, and secure.” – IPS Sethi
He showcased live examples of AI-powered e-Governance: from AI-enabled learner’s license tests to fraud-resistant Pollution Under Control Certificates, from e-Sanjeevani telehealth to faceless transport services—all powered by open, scalable platforms like Postgres.
Importantly, Sethi underlined the need for data sovereignty, citing NIC’s expanding network of government-run data centers. “We can’t rely on foreign cloud platforms—we must own our infrastructure,” he asserted.
India’s Open Source Awakening
The panel discussion titled “How Can India Lead the Global Open Source Movement in Digital Public Infrastructure?” brought together visionaries from NIC, EDB, and key government technology leaders. The consensus? India is ready not just to adopt open source—but to lead it globally.
Prashant Kumar Mittal, DDG, NIC, drove home the importance of simplicity in adoption. “No one trained us to use Paytm or TikTok. Adoption happens when solutions are intuitive,” he said. He equated DPI to building a bridge—accessible to all, not just the privileged few.
Uday Kumar, NIC, highlighted how major government initiatives—from Bharat Maps to fertilizer subsidies for over 10 crore farmers—are already built on Postgres and other open source stacks, proving that scale, reliability, and cost-efficiency can coexist.
“Open source isn’t an option—it’s in our DNA at NIC.” – V. Uday Kumar
C.J. Anthony, Head of Group at NIC, added that open source was the catalyst that enabled widespread computerization in India. “Without it, we couldn’t have built software for so many ministries and states at this scale,” he said.
EDB: Bringing Enterprise-Grade Confidence to Open Source
Representing the industry perspective, Ramesh Mamgain, Vice President at EDB India, laid out how EDB Postgres is transforming public infrastructure into a resilient, AI-ready, and compliant digital foundation.
“Postgres is no longer just a database. With EDB, it’s a transactional engine, analytics engine, AI platform, and cloud-native stack—all rolled into one.” – Ramesh Mamgain
Unlike generic open-source binaries, EDB’s Postgres is hardened, security-tested, and compliant with DPDP, SOC 2, and GDPR standards. With features like transparent data encryption, zero data loss failover, and in-database vector support, EDB enables public agencies to adopt open source without compromise.
Rahul Navghare, Director, Sales Engineering at EDB, introduced their Sovereign AI platform—a secure, on-premise AI framework that can power chat-based government workflows, from parliamentary query automation to citizen service delivery, without exposing sensitive data to external clouds.
Building Trust, Together
A recurring theme throughout the forum was trust—in partners, platforms, and processes. Mr. Mittal and Mr. Mamgain both emphasized the value of long-term collaboration over transactional vendor relationships.
EDB proposed the creation of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in collaboration with NIC to jointly develop, test, and scale sovereign AI and open source solutions for India’s unique use cases—across agriculture, finance, public health, and more.
AI: Proceeding with Power and Prudence
As the panel explored the integration of AI into DPI, leaders urged a measured, use-case-led approach. “We must begin with non-sensitive data and build slowly,” advised Mr. Anthony. Mr. Mittal added that technology colonialism is a real threat and that India must fight a new freedom struggle to own its digital future.
“This is our digital satyagraha. We must liberate ourselves from technological colonialism.” – Prashant Kumar Mittal
Conclusion: Bharat’s Tech Independence Moment
India is already a global example of DPI success—be it UPI, Aadhaar, or CoWIN. But to lead the open source and AI movement globally, India must now transition from user to builder, from consumer to contributor.
OpenGov India 2025 made one thing clear: The future of Digital Bharat will be open, intelligent, sovereign—and proudly Indian.