India has an opportunity to become an influential player in the emerging global brain-computer interface market, with the technology potentially reshaping rehabilitation, neuroprosthetics and assistive technology for people living with paralysis, stroke and severe motor impairments.
A new analysis from the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) argues that brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, are becoming an increasingly important field of global technological competition and that India has a window to influence how the sector develops.
The ORF article, “Brain–Computer Interfaces: India’s Window to Shape the Neurotechnology Race,” by Ishita Deshmukh, comes as countries including the United States and China accelerate investment in technologies capable of converting brain activity directly into commands for computers, communication devices and physical machines.
For India’s prosthetics, orthotics and rehabilitation community, one of the most important questions is how these technologies could eventually move beyond laboratories and become practical clinical tools.
What is a brain-computer interface?
A brain-computer interface creates a direct communication pathway between neural activity and an external device.
Signals generated by the brain can be recorded, processed by algorithms and converted into commands.
In rehabilitation, this could potentially enable a person with severe motor impairment to control:
- a robotic or prosthetic arm
- an exoskeleton
- a computer cursor
- a communication device
- functional electrical stimulation
- other powered assistive technologies
Unlike conventional myoelectric prostheses, which generally detect electrical activity from remaining muscles, some BCI systems attempt to obtain the user’s intended movement directly from neural signals.
This could be particularly relevant to people with high-level spinal cord injuries, stroke, locked-in syndrome or severe neuromuscular conditions where useful peripheral muscle signals may be limited.
A recent clinical review authored by researchers from institutions including NIMHANS Bengaluru and Govind Ballabh Pant Institute in New Delhi identified rehabilitation and stroke among the major emerging clinical applications of BCI technology.
Neuroprosthetics could become a major application
For prosthetics, one of the most compelling long-term applications is brain-controlled upper-limb prostheses.
Modern myoelectric arms can already convert residual muscle signals into movements such as opening a hand, rotating a wrist or changing grip patterns.
BCIs could potentially add another layer by interpreting movement intention at the level of the nervous system.
The objective is not simply to create a robotic limb that moves.
Researchers are increasingly working towards closed-loop neuroprosthetic systems in which information moves in both directions: the user sends a command to the prosthesis, while sensory information from the prosthesis is returned to the nervous system.
The ultimate goal would be more intuitive control together with some restoration of sensations such as touch, pressure or limb position.
However, these systems remain largely experimental.
A major review of implantable BCI trials found that although human clinical studies have been underway for decades, implantable BCIs had still not reached routine medical-device approval at the time of the review.
Non-invasive systems may be particularly important for India
BCIs do not necessarily require brain surgery.
Non-invasive systems typically use technologies such as electroencephalography (EEG) to record neural activity through sensors placed on the scalp.
ORF has previously highlighted the potential commercial advantages of EEG-based BCIs because they can be more portable and scalable than implanted systems.
That distinction could be particularly important in India.
An implantable BCI may require highly specialised neurosurgery, sophisticated clinical infrastructure and long-term monitoring.
Non-invasive systems could potentially be deployed through rehabilitation hospitals and specialised centres with considerably lower risk and cost.
They may therefore have earlier applications in areas such as:
- stroke rehabilitation
- motor retraining
- robotic rehabilitation
- communication for people with severe paralysis
- exoskeleton control
- functional electrical stimulation
For India, developing affordable non-invasive neurotechnology could potentially create a larger clinical impact than concentrating exclusively on highly complex implanted systems.
Indian government interest is increasing
BCIs are also beginning to receive greater attention from Indian policymakers.
In May 2026, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan inaugurated a national conference in New Delhi on “Brain-Computer Interface: Expanding Neural Frontiers & Its Strategic Implications.”
The event brought together military leaders, policymakers, scientists, medical experts, companies, start-ups and academics to discuss the development and strategic implications of BCI technology.
Although defence applications receive significant attention, the same underlying technologies have major civilian healthcare applications.
India is simultaneously expanding its wider investment in deep technology.
The government’s ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation Fund has identified AI, robotics, medical devices and other deep technologies among areas eligible for strategic R&D support.
This creates an opportunity for neurotechnology to develop within a wider Indian ecosystem spanning artificial intelligence, medical devices, robotics and biomedical engineering.
Assistive technology policy is moving in the same direction
There is also increasing overlap between neurotechnology and India’s assistive-technology strategy.
Under the Divyang Sahara Yojana, announced in the Union Budget 2026–27, the government plans to support ALIMCO in expanding assistive-device production, research and development and the integration of artificial intelligence into products and services.
India’s Department of Science and Technology has previously identified smart prosthetics and orthotics, peripheral nervous-system control, computer-vision control, sensors, embedded electronics, functional electrical stimulation and robotic exoskeletons as areas relevant to technology development for persons with disabilities.
BCIs therefore sit naturally within a much wider technological transition already taking place in Indian rehabilitation.
The future prosthetic or orthotic device may increasingly combine mechanical design with sensors, AI, neural control and rehabilitation robotics.
India could develop technology around local needs
One of India’s potential advantages is scale.
The country has a very large population of people living with neurological conditions, spinal cord injury, stroke, limb loss and other mobility impairments.
That creates a significant domestic environment in which new rehabilitation technologies could eventually be developed and evaluated.
But technologies designed for India will also need to address different priorities from some of the high-profile BCI projects being developed internationally.
Affordability will be critical.
So will maintainability, training requirements, clinical evidence and the ability to operate outside a handful of specialist research hospitals.
This could create an opportunity for Indian universities, start-ups, rehabilitation centres and medical-device manufacturers to focus on low-cost and scalable BCI-assisted rehabilitation systems.
If successful, the same products could have significant export potential across South Asia, Africa and other emerging healthcare markets.
Neural data brings new ethical questions
The development of BCIs also creates unusually sensitive regulatory questions.
Brain signals are fundamentally different from many other categories of healthcare data.
As increasingly sophisticated algorithms learn to interpret neural activity, questions arise around who owns that information, how it is stored and what companies or governments should be permitted to do with it.
Previous ORF analysis has highlighted issues including mental privacy, cognitive liberty, cybersecurity and ownership of neural data as important concerns for future BCI regulation.
These issues will become increasingly important if BCIs move from controlled research studies into consumer and clinical use.
For rehabilitation professionals, regulation will also need to address clinical responsibility.
A BCI-controlled prosthesis, exoskeleton or stimulation system brings together medical-device hardware, artificial intelligence, software and human physiology. Establishing responsibility when such systems fail will therefore require clear standards.
From laboratory research to rehabilitation clinics
BCIs are unlikely to replace existing prosthetic or rehabilitation technologies in the near term.
Myoelectric prostheses, conventional prosthetic components, functional electrical stimulation, robotics and orthotic systems will continue to evolve independently.
But increasingly these technologies may begin to converge.
A stroke patient might use a BCI to trigger movement through functional electrical stimulation.
A person with spinal cord injury could potentially use brain signals to operate an exoskeleton.
An upper-limb amputee might eventually control multiple prosthetic functions through neural interfaces rather than relying entirely on remaining muscles.
India now has an opportunity to participate in developing those technologies rather than simply importing them later.
The importance of the emerging neurotechnology race for Bharat CPO is therefore not the prospect of futuristic brain implants alone.
It is the possibility that neural interfaces, AI, robotics and assistive technology will increasingly converge into a new generation of rehabilitation devices.
For India’s prosthetists, orthotists, rehabilitation physicians, engineers and researchers, that could make brain-computer interfaces one of the most important technologies to watch over the coming decade.
- Observer Research Foundation – Brain–Computer Interfaces: India’s Window to Shape the Neurotechnology Race
- ORF – The Emerging Safety and Ethical Landscape of Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Press Information Bureau – Conference on Brain-Computer Interface and Strategic Implications
- PubMed – Brain-Computer Interface: An Update for Clinicians
- Nature Reviews Bioengineering – The State of Clinical Trials of Implantable Brain–Computer Interfaces
- Press Information Bureau – Divyang Sahara Yojana and Assistive Technology
- ALIMCO