"The biggest lesson learned is we have to take the unintended consequences of any new technology along with all the benefits, and think about them simultaneously - as opposed to waiting for the unintended consequences to show up and then address them." - Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
India goes for AI standards
In December 2025, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introduced a comprehensive set of 12 new norms. These standards primarily cover emerging fields like artificial intelligence (AI) and also address traditional infrastructure sectors such as electrical fittings and lifts. This is aimed at aligning India’s technical specifications directly with the latest international frameworks set by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), fostering global interoperability.
Data quality
The core of the AI-specific notification focuses on establishing four crucial data quality standards. These standards define how data used in machine learning (ML) systems and analytics must be classified, measured, managed, and audited. BIS aims to provide a common language for data integrity across various organisations. These guidelines are key for managing the entire AI lifecycle, including maintaining essential audit trails within ML workflows to ensure transparency.
Compliance and accountability
These norms will create a framework for accountability, helping organisations reduce model errors and mitigate potential bias embedded within algorithms. Compliance requires quantitative checks on several key metrics, including the accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of data, all supported by full provenance records and robust governance policies. The standards are voluntary for now, but they hold high relevance and importance for heavily regulated sectors like finance, healthcare, insurance, and government.
Secure digital finance
Beyond AI, BIS has updated norms crucial for modern finance and infrastructure. New standards were introduced for secure cryptographic devices, which are commonly used in retail financial services. These devices support critical infrastructure like ATMs, Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals, and various authentication hardware essential for securing the digital payments ecosystem. This update ensures that India’s financial technology infrastructure adheres to the latest global security standards.
New framework
These norms supersede the previous 2019 standards, and both will work in parallel till May 2026. This parallel operational window provides banks, financial companies, and device manufacturers with the necessary time to adapt and align their existing systems and device manufacturing processes with the improved technical requirements before the older norms are entirely phased out.
Summary
The Bureau of Indian Standards has notified 12 new technical norms, aligning India's AI, finance, and infrastructure standards with global ISO/IEC frameworks. The AI standards primarily focus on ensuring data quality, accountability, and reducing model errors in ML systems. While adoption is currently voluntary, it is highly relevant for regulated sectors. The older 2019 standards will transition out by May.Food for thought
If AI standards are voluntary but crucial for reducing bias and ensuring public trust in sensitive sectors, should the government introduce a mandatory licensing framework for all AI developers, as recently suggested?AI concept to learn: Audit Trails in ML
An audit trail in machine learning (ML) refers to a chronological record that documents every change, decision, and step taken throughout the development, deployment, and operation of an AI model, specifically covering the data used. This trail is vital for debugging errors, explaining model decisions (especially in regulated fields like finance and healthcare), and proving that the model adheres to fairness and compliance requirements over time.
[The Billion Hopes Research Team shares the latest AI updates for learning and awareness. Various sources are used. All copyrights acknowledged. This is not a professional, financial, personal or medical advice. Please consult domain experts before making decisions. Feedback welcome!]
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