Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined plans to strengthen the defence sector and pushed for effective use of Artificial intelligence during a key meeting on Thursday. He chaired a third high-level meeting with Secretaries to the Government of India at his residence. Discussions covered the future action agenda of ministries and departments dealing with infrastructure and connectivity, security and external affairs, and governance.

The meeting produced a clear set of priorities where PM Modi urged the top bureaucracy to adopt a long-term vision for India’s future, break departmental silos as a mindset issue, and treat data as a national asset by pushing for interoperability and integrated systems. He called for effective use of AI with human oversight, strengthening the defence industry through research, innovation and skills, and shifting from port development to port-led development by better connecting manufacturing and exports with maritime infrastructure.

Prime Minister also sought greater engagement with universities and young people for fresh policy ideas, encouraged informal interaction and team spirit among officers, and emphasised a whole-of-government approach as Secretaries shared their priorities and implementation challenges.

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Long-term vision over short-term fixes

As per PIB release, the Prime Minister told Secretaries that they must look beyond immediate issues and daily statistics. He urged them to think with a long-term perspective on how India’s future should be shaped. This was framed as a core responsibility of senior bureaucrats, who are expected to design policies and systems that will matter decades from now, not just solve current bottlenecks.

The meeting followed two earlier rounds of deliberations with other groups of Secretaries. Together, these sessions are intended to align the top bureaucracy around a common long-term agenda for infrastructure, security, external relations and governance.

Breaking silos: An organisational and mindset challenge

A major theme of the meeting was the need to overcome silos within the government. The Prime Minister said silos are “not merely an organisational problem but also a problem of mindset”. He noted that silos can be both horizontal (between departments at the same level) and vertical (between different levels of hierarchy).

He stressed that officials must take ownership of their responsibilities and work with a spirit of belongingness towards the larger government machinery, not just their own ministry or department. To illustrate effective coordination, he cited the COVID-19 pandemic (coronavirus) and the West Asia crisis, when officers across departments worked together closely. He said such coordination mechanisms should become a natural part of the government’s work culture.

Data as a ‘national asset’; push for interoperability

PM Modi described data as “a national asset and a resource for the future”. He pointed out that the government invests significant resources in collecting, storing and managing data, but its full potential is not always realised because of departmental silos and fragmented systems.

He highlighted differences in the way data is collected and managed for various purposes across ministries. PM called for finding solutions that enable greater interoperability and effective use of data which means moving towards common standards, shared platforms and integrated systems so that data collected by one department can be safely and efficiently used by others for policymaking, service delivery and planning.

AI to be used effectively, with human intervention

On artificial intelligence, the Prime Minister called for “effective use of AI while ensuring human intervention and judgement”. He asked officials to explore innovative ways of combining the capabilities of AI with human expertise.

AI should be used to improve decision-making, analysis and service delivery, but not as a substitute for human responsibility. Senior officers are expected to design systems where AI supports, rather than replaces, human oversight—especially in areas such as security, governance and critical infrastructure.

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Defence Industry: Research, innovation and global competitiveness

The meeting placed emphasis on strengthening India’s defence industry. The Prime Minister said there is a need to “further strengthen India’s defence industry and make it more competitive at the global level”. He called for greater focus on research and innovation in the defence sector.

He also stressed the importance of developing innovative defence courses and strengthening human resource development in the defence sector. This points to a push for specialised education and training programmes that can produce engineers, designers, analysts and managers capable of supporting a globally competitive defence ecosystem.

For the defence manufacturing and procurement community, it indicates continued policy support for indigenisation, technology development and export orientation, with an added focus on skills and curriculum aligned to future defence technologies.

Maritime Sector: From port development to port-led development

PM Modi discussed the need for a comprehensive approach to strengthening India’s maritime sector. He recalled that shipbuilding has been accorded infrastructure status and called for assessing whether the intended objectives are being achieved in mission mode.

He reiterated the need for India to move “from port development to port-led development” which shows a shift from viewing ports as isolated infrastructure projects to treating them as engines of regional economic growth, industrial clusters and logistics hubs.

PM also emphasised the need for better connectivity between manufacturing units and export-oriented units, so that India’s manufacturing and export capabilities can fully benefit from its maritime infrastructure. This aligns with broader goals of reducing logistics costs, improving supply chains and boosting exports through integrated port–rail–road–industrial corridors.

Universities and young people in policymaking

Prime Minister Modi called for greater engagement between government departments, universities and young people to bring fresh perspectives in policymaking. He said wider engagement with universities and young people can bring “new and unconventional ideas” which indicates an openness to structured interactions such as policy labs, internships, research collaborations, hackathons and advisory groups that include students, researchers and young professionals.

Informal interaction and team spirit among officers

Alongside formal coordination, the Prime Minister underlined the importance of informal interaction and building team spirit among officers. He encouraged senior officers to develop greater personal and informal engagement with junior colleagues and to build stronger networks across cadres and departments.

The aim is to create a more collaborative work culture where officers feel comfortable sharing ideas, raising implementation challenges and working across traditional boundaries. This is seen as complementary to the push against silos and the emphasis on collective ownership.

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Secretaries share priorities and implementation challenges

During the meeting, Secretaries also shared their perspectives on sectoral priorities, emerging challenges and implementation issues. The discussion allowed the Prime Minister and the PMO to hear directly from the top bureaucrats about ground-level constraints, coordination gaps and opportunities for reform.

The meeting was attended by the Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of key ministries and departments, and senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office. It forms part of an ongoing series of high-level engagements intended to align the bureaucracy around the government’s long-term agenda.