‘Why can’t we apply AI to cows?’: Infosys Co-founder Nandan Nilekani says PM Modi sparked launch of Amul’s ‘Sarlaben’ app in just 3 weeks

Speaking at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani shared a striking conversation he had with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India.

Nandan Nilekani opens up about PM Modi's suggestion that sparked creation of AI app for cows

Nilekani said while discussing how AI could be used to help Indian farmers, the Prime Minister suggested that it could also be used for cows and cattle to understand their health.

Nilekani said that when he met the Prime Minister on January 8 and spoke about using AI for farmers, the PM said, “Why can’t we apply it to cows and cattle? Because if the cow is sick, it can’t tell you that it is sick.”

“How can you solve this problem? And he gave us his vision of applying AI to agriculture and dairy,” Nilekani shared.

He further said that on the same day, the Prime Minister’s Office held a meeting along with officials Krishnan and Abhishek from the Ministry of Information and Technology (MeitY), representatives from Amul and some of his colleagues.

According to Nilekani, within three weeks, the application was ready and launched. The meeting took place on January 8 and the ‘Sarlaben’ app went live on February 11. 

“An idea that the PM had on January 8 has become reality on February 11. This to me is an example of the speed of execution of AI diffusion in India. And I get the same sense of excitement that I got on December 30, 2016, when the PM launched the BHIM payment application on UPI,” Nilekani mentioned.

Nilekani noted that India has the world’s largest cooperative, Amul, which includes 3.6 million farmers, handles 2 billion milk transactions every year and manages 40 million cattle.

He said that many of these farmers, including a large number of women, are now using the ‘Sarlaben’ application. Through this app, they receive real responses about their cattle’s health, pregnancy, milk production and several other issues. Nilekani said that this shows how quickly AI is spreading in the country.

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal shared the video of the tech leader speaking at the event on the social media platform X.

India’s veteran tech leader, Nandan Nilekani, also clarified that the AI system has been designed keeping sovereign data in mind.

He explained that the data of Amul remains with Amul, and the system ensures that all data stays within India.

Speaking about the Summit, the tech expert described the event as “fantastic” and remarked that AI is set to grow rapidly in the country under Prime Minister Modi’s vision of using technology for the benefit of common people, workers, and farmers alike.

“An idea the PM had on 8 January 2026 became a reality by 11 February 2026. That’s speed of execution of AI diffusion in India,” says @NandanNilekani, Co-founder of @Infosys.#IndiaAIImpactSummit2026pic.twitter.com/HrKIVnebaA

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) February 20, 2026

Also read: Microsoft, TCS, Reliance, Adani, Yotta and others commit over $360 billion to India at AI Impact Summit 2026 (startuppedia.in)