August 5th, 2025 marked a big day for India’s tech scene. The Linux Foundation hosted the first Open Source Summit India in Hyderabad, and it was pretty impressive. Developers, contributors, and tech leaders gathered to discuss how open source software is changing the game.

The turnout was solid – India’s open source community really showed up, and the discussions highlighted just how much the ecosystem has grown.

What Stood Out

LF India Grows Its Network The Linux Foundation India announced new partnerships with AgStack, LF AI & Data, FINOS, and OpenInfra. This means open source is expanding into agriculture tech, AI, financial services, and cloud infrastructure. Basically, open source isn’t just for traditional IT anymore – it’s becoming essential for large-scale systems across different industries.

India’s Developer Numbers Are Impressive India now has over 17 million GitHub users, with 28% growth compared to last year – that’s the fastest growth globally. The message was clear: India has the largest developer population and is emerging as a major force in open-source innovation.

Open Source Powers Digital Infrastructure, The sessions covered how open source software is running Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) across various sectors. From AI and 5G in telecom to secure fintech platforms and agricultural innovation, open source has become the foundation for nationwide digital transformation.

Moving from Users to Contributors, India has traditionally been more of an open source consumer than contributor. This summit showed a shift – new labs, training programs, and mentorship initiatives were announced to help developers contribute back to upstream projects. The focus is now on contributing, not just using.

Key Takeaways

India is stepping up its open source game. With rapid growth and strong community engagement, the country is positioning itself to lead global open source contributions.

Industries are adopting fast. Agriculture, fintech, telecom, and AI sectors are all building on open platforms.

Skills development is crucial. Training and contribution-focused programs will help developers move from just using open source tools to actually building and improving them.

Open source is now critical infrastructure. It’s not just software anymore – it’s the backbone for digital public infrastructure, AI systems, and national digital transformation projects.

The community mindset has matured. People aren’t asking “Why open source?” anymore – they’re asking “How can we push the boundaries?”

Bottom Line

The Open Source Summit India 2025 made it clear that India isn’t just participating in the global open source movement anymore – it’s becoming a major driver. With millions of developers, growing industry partnerships, and a culture that’s shifting toward contribution rather than just consumption, things are looking good for open innovation.

The biggest takeaway? Open source isn’t a niche thing anymore – it’s becoming the foundation of digital infrastructure. The next challenge is getting more developers to not just use open source projects, but to contribute to the ones that are shaping future technology actively.