IAIRO appoints AvenuesAI's CMD Vishal Mehta as Technical Advisor
New Delhi, May 28
The Indian AI Research Organisation, a fast-rising institution at the centre of India's sovereign artificial intelligence ambitions, has appointed veteran technologist Vishal Mehta, CMD of AvenuesAI Limited, as Technical Advisor, a move seen as a significant acceleration of the country's bid to build independent, world-class AI capability.
Mehta's appointment, announced on IAIRO's LinkedIn, stated, "Vishal Mehta brings decades of experience in building and scaling technology and digital infrastructure businesses in India. His perspectives across entrepreneurship, technology platforms, and AI-led innovation are expected to contribute meaningfully to IAIRO's evolving research and ecosystem initiatives."
As the architect behind platforms such as CCAvenue, Rediff and Phronetic.AI, Mehta has spent decades building high-scale digital infrastructure in India. Under his leadership, AvenuesAI Limited has grown into one of the country's largest fintech and software ecosystems, processing billions of transactions annually across millions of merchants.
According to company information, IAIRO's founding ecosystem includes globally recognised AI researchers, technologists returning from top US universities, and veterans of Apple, Google and IBM. Its mandate spans frontier research, talent development, enterprise AI systems, embodied intelligence and national-scale deployment across sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, education, sustainability and urban systems.
Confirming the development, Vishal Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of AvenuesAI Limited and Rediff.com, said, "What excites me about IAIRO is that it is not merely creating AI products -- it is building an institution for India's future."
He further stated that the next era of AI leadership will belong to those who build ecosystems around models spanning talent, infrastructure, research, deployment and trust, and suggested IAIRO could emerge as one of India's most consequential technology institutions in the coming decades.
Mehta joins an advisory group that already includes prominent industry figures such as Ajai Chowdhry, Padma Bhushan awardee and co-founder of HCL, and Sharad Sharma of iSPIRT Foundation and Product Nation, reinforcing IAIRO's growing stature. As global competition for AI leadership intensifies, the organisation aims to position India not just as a participant but as a creator of foundational systems, standards and innovation frameworks for the world.
According to company information, IAIRO is focused on building a globally competitive artificial intelligence institution rooted in deep research, scalable innovation, and national capability development.
The organisation, headquartered in GIFT City, Gujarat, is structured as an autonomous Section 8 entity aligned with India's national AI mission. IAIRO's PPP model is backed by IndiaAI Mission/MeitY, Gujarat DST, and the Indian Pharma Association.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Vishal Mehta joining IAIRO is a big deal. This is the same guy who built CCAvenue from scratch when nobody believed Indian payment gateways could work. If anyone understands how to build digital infrastructure at scale in the Indian context, it's him. The mention of Ajai Chowdhry and Sharad Sharma in the advisory group is also reassuring - these are credible people who have actually built things. My only concern is whether IAIRO can attract enough top-tier AI researchers away from Big Tech salaries. Let's see how this unfolds. 🤞
As someone working in AI, I'm cautiously optimistic. India needs institutions like IAIRO to avoid being just a consumer of foreign AI tech. Vishal Mehta's experience scaling fintech infrastructure could be very relevant - AI deployment at national scale requires similar thinking about reliability and security. That said, I hope the advisory role is substantive and not just for show. The real test will be in the research output and talent they can attract over the next 2-3 years.
This is great for India's AI journey! Vishal Mehta is a technocrat who has always bet on Indian talent and infrastructure. From Rediff to CCAvenue to now AI - his track record speaks for itself. I especially like that IAIRO is focusing on healthcare and education - areas where AI can genuinely improve lives in India. The PPP model makes sense too. Hope they also focus on building Indian language AI models - that would be a game changer for rural India. 🙏
Impressive credentials but I'm a bit skeptical. Having a payments and fintech expert as a technical advisor for AI research seems like an odd match. Yes, he built great infrastructure, but frontier AI research requires deep ML expertise. The article mentions "veterans of Apple, Google and IBM" - would have been more reassuring to hear about researchers from DeepMind or OpenAI. Still, I hope I'm wrong
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