Davos, Jan. 21 -- Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday rejected the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva's suggestion that India belongs to a second tier of AI economies, saying that India is clearly in the first group globally.

Addressing a World Economic Forum (WEF) panel in Davos, Vaishnaw said, "I don't know what the IMF criteria has been, but Stanford places India as third in terms of AI penetration, in terms of AI preparedness, and in terms of AI talent."

Addressing the IMF chief directly regarding the classification, he stated, "I don't think your classification in the second book is right. It's actually in the first."

The Union Minister detailed India's compre...