• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "Shruti Sharma"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
    "Carnegie India"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie India",
  "programAffiliation": "",
  "programs": [],
  "projects": [
    "Technology and Society"
  ],
  "regions": [
    "South Asia",
    "India"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Technology"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

In The Media
Carnegie India

For the First Time, India Has a Genome Database. But Are We Ready to Use It?

The IndiGen Genome Project, launched in April 2019, is a government-funded exercise that sequenced more than a thousand individuals from diverse ethnicities to create a genome database for India.

Link Copied
By Shruti Sharma
Published on Nov 22, 2019
Project hero Image

Project

Technology and Society

This program focuses on five sets of imperatives: data, strategic technologies, emerging technologies, digital public infrastructure, and strategic partnerships.

Learn More

Source: Print

For the first time ever, we have a gene database just for Indians.

The IndiGen Genome Project, launched in April this year, is a government-funded exercise that sequenced more than a thousand individuals from diverse ethnicities to create a genome database for India.

Since most of the globally available genetic tests have been developed using data of Caucasian populations, this indigenous genetic mapping exercise might improve our ability to diagnose, prevent, and treat diseases specific to the Indian population.

But is India, which will see the Personal Data Protection Bill being tabled in Parliament this winter session, ready?

Read the Full Text

This article was originally published in ThePrint.

About the Author

Shruti Sharma

Former Associate Director, Fellow, and Chief Coordinator, Global Technology Summit, Technology and Society Program

Shruti Sharma was an associate director and a fellow with the Technology and Society Program at Carnegie India, where she is currently working on exploring the challenges and opportunities in leveraging biotechnology to improve public health capacity in India. Additionally, she is the Chief Coordinator of Carnegie India's Global Technology Summit.

    Recent Work

  • Article
    The India-United Kingdom Technology and Security Initiative: Ideas for Change
      • +1

      Rudra Chaudhuri, Tejas Bharadwaj, Konark Bhandari, …

  • Commentary
    The India-U.S. TRUST Initiative: A Resilient Pharma Supply Chain

      Shruti Sharma

Shruti Sharma
Former Associate Director, Fellow, and Chief Coordinator, Global Technology Summit, Technology and Society Program
Shruti Sharma
TechnologySouth AsiaIndia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • An aerial drone photo taken on June 4, 2026 shows a wind-photovoltaic power storage station of Huadian Inner Mongolia New Energy Co., Ltd. as part of the Horinger data center cluster green energy supply demonstration project, in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
    Commentary
    Are Data Centers the Solution to China’s Renewables Excess Capacity?

    China’s latest energy plan explicitly calls for integrating data centers into the electricity system, particularly connecting them to green energy. It appears Beijing wants to use compute as a source of domestic demand to absorb renewables excess capacity.

      • Damien Ma

      Damien Ma

  • Article
    Build, Not Buy: The Semiconductor Lesson that Indian AI Experts Must Learn

    As AI grows more sophisticated, as the supply chains that power it become more contested, and as access to frontier models becomes geopolitically charged, India must begin to ask a different set of questions. Not what applications it can build on someone else’s infrastructure but what the world needs.

      Konark Bhandari

  • Article
    Unlocking India’s Urban Dividend

    As India undergoes a demographic transition, its cities will be its economic powerhouse—but only if it accurately captures city growth and empowers cities to support their citizens.

      • Apoorva Jadhav

      Apoorva Jadhav

  • Paper
    Assessing Information Ecosystems: How Governments Can Get Ahead of Hybrid Threats

    The hybrid warfare landscape is evolving rapidly, leaving policymakers without clear strategies. To better inform their work in addressing emerging challenges, governments must dig deeper into the underlying dynamics at play.

      Raluca Csernatoni, Alicia Wanless

  • Commentary
    Carnegie Politika
    Russia Is Not Even a Contender in the Global AI Race

    When political power is concentrated in the hands of a small circle of people, a country invariably ends up with technological stagnation.

      Aleksei Kiselev

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.