As India gears up for Union Budget 2026, Zithara.AI—a Hyderabad-based pioneer in AI-powered offline retail transformation—outlines key expectations to accelerate deep-tech adoption. Serving 500+ stores like jewellery chains and Bajaj Electronics, the company addresses challenges including data silos, skilling gaps, and infrastructure hurdles in India’s 12M+ offline retail ecosystem.
Varun Kashyap and Sridevi Reddy, Co-Founders, Zithara.AI, said, “To have the government be more all-in and to be more invested both in letter, money and spirit, for that matter, as far as the ecosystem is concerned. The Government set aside a budget for Rs. 10,300+ Crore to boost the India AI mission over 5 years might not be sufficient for scaling up the AI powered ecosystem. We need to treat AI as a future technology and treat it like Infrastructure to ensure better accessibility to funding.
We would also like to highlight that if the government is more invested in the business then the ecosystem will be primed to support the startups. If a startup gets the 1st set of funding from the government and they need to scale up, going back to the government is not an option. The startup has to depend on VC’s. Therefore, we would like the Government to set up funds to facilitate the funding for scaling up particularly for the startups with a proven track record for performance.
AI startups we can allocate only 10 to 15 percent budget allocated for AI R&D, which is not sufficient to scaleup. Moreover, currently we use the GPUs that are not in India we’re always living on borrowed technology and have to pay substantial amount for the same. With the high velocity of AI startups in the country, we need to build that capability inside India – a budget allocation for the same will be a great trigger for future growth. If the government is backing an initiative it is going to be the nation’s competitive advantage.
The Centre must fully commit to AI startups in Budget 2026 with enhanced funding and security measures to power India’s deep-tech ecosystem.”
