India, Dec. 9 -- In its working paper on GenAI and copyright, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has proposed not allowing AI companies to train their models on copyrighted content for free, warning that this approach would erode incentives for human creativity and distort the value chain.

Instead, the body has signalled support for a hybrid statutory licensing model that would let AI developers use any lawfully accessed copyrighted content for training, but only after paying royalties once their models become commercial.

This recommendation sits at the core of DPIIT's newly released working paper on AI and copyright, the first part of a policy exercise launched in April 2025 by an eight-member committee...