ABSTRACT

As the Indian government continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) to advance economic growth, innovation, and technological self-reliance, the environmental consequences of AI development and deployment demand greater attention from policymakers and the public alike. AI systems rely on resource-intensive hardware, substantial energy consumption, and frequent device replacement cycles, often exacerbated by planned obsolescence. These factors contribute significantly to electronic waste and broader environmental degradation. In this context, it is important for lawmakers and policy experts to explore sustainable reforms to India’s existing technological repair framework. This blog examines whether the formal recognition of a “right to repair” can help mitigate the environmental impacts of AI by extending device lifespans, reducing e-waste generation, and promoting more sustainable patterns of production and consumption.

Much like the other nations that are currently embracing the seventh wave of technological revolution with open arms, India too has sought to unleash Artificial Intelligence from the ivory towers of the global software industry’s R&D departments, with its potential contribution to the Indian economy projected to reach $1.7 trillion by 2035. Be it through Government-backed initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission, or through the rapid emergence of start-up companies within the AI sector, the automation of crucial managerial and constructive responsibilities across public and private sectors through the integration of Artificial Intelligence seems inevitable.  

India, which is already one of the largest producers of global e-waste, must now brace itself to take on the tedious task of confronting the abysmal environmental consequences of AI-driven growth, which generally range from increased energy and water consumption to accumulating discarded hardware. Many advanced AI models require patch updates by the parent company which, when coupled with the planned obsolescence of the devices embedded with or utilized for developing AI such as smartphones or Graphic Processing Units (or GPUs), disables the general public from fixing them on their own in a sustainable manner; Present-day technology  is increasingly being engineered to have shorter lifespans, which leads to mounting electronic waste internationally.

In this article, the authors aim to discuss how the formal inclusion of the Right to Repair into India’s consumer and environmental law frameworks could offer a pathway that is both remedial as well as preventative when it comes to tackling the environmental consequences of rapid AI development.

The Intersection of AI and the Environment

Artificial intelligence (AI) is frequently characterized as a clean, harmless digital technology that increases efficiency in multiple sectors without having potential ill effects on the environment. According to this view, AI works in a virtual space without confining natural resources or impacting the environment. Even though AI feels invisible in the environmental context, resource intensive extraction from physical infrastructure like semiconductor factories, electricity, and considerable amounts of water for cooling is crucial to AI systems.

Beyond the circumference of digital ease and efficiency, artificial intelligence has a cascade of environmental effects that include material supply chains, natural resources, and physical infrastructure. AI systems are run on large data centers that require enormous amounts of electricity, which is often derived from fossil fuel dependent infrastructures and extraction of gallons of freshwater for cooling which puts excessive strain on already overburdened water and energy systems. Moreover, AI relies on hardware like servers, specialized processors and graphic processing units (GPUs), all of which is dependent upon extraction of harmful rare earth material, energy intensive manufacturing processes and intricate international supply chain.

Discarded parts exacerbate the expanding worldwide issue of electronic waste as AI systems modify themselves quickly, which makes their hardware outdated. These repercussions demonstrate that rather than an isolated digital invention, AI is a system that worsens environmental costs at every step of its existence. Scholarly works, such as Exploring the Sustainable Scaling of AI Dilemma by Desroches et al., use a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to study AI’s impacts on the environment, not just as software but as a whole system. It suggests that solely considering the electricity usage while running AI systems is not sufficient to determine its environmental impacts. Harm, in fact, builds up over the course of AI systems’ whole life cycle, beginning from extracting raw material to producing hardware to their deployment, ongoing use and eventual disposal. Despite the significant efficiency of a single AI model, the incessant and combined use of AI systems, especially generated and automated ones, inflate environmental damage.

When all these factors are considered, AI as a technological advancement can’t be seen as environmentally neutral. It is a transition that is rooted in reality and has major ecological ramifications which makes understanding environmental impacts of AI an issue of immense pertinence to have a robust dialogue about regulation, sustainability and technological advancement. Therefore, understanding AI’s effects on the environment is crucial for having robust dialogue about sustainability, regulation, and responsible technological advancement.

Understanding the Right to Repair within the Indian Context

The right to repair essentially refers to the consumer’s freedom to opt for independent repairers or mend their own products instead of being confined to dole replacements supplied by the manufacturers or authorized service centre. India does not have a particular law that recognizes this privilege. Rather, it has evolved in a disjointed fashion because of limited regulatory attempts, consumer protection concepts, and competition law rulings. This lacunae in the legal framework are crucial since consumer choice, market competition and environmental effects are all directly impacted by repairability in a technology-driven economy.

One of the most significant advancements in this context has come from Competition Law. The Competition Commission of India ruled in Shamsher Kataria v. Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. that automakers had limited authorized dealer’s access to technical knowledge, diagnostic tools and spare parts, thereby misusing their dominant position. The Commission considered the repair aftermarket as a distinct and competitive market and recognized manipulation of already sold products as anti-competitive. The ruling essentially, despite not unconditionally establishing a right to repair, laid down a conceptual basis confirming that monopolizing repairs after sails can be violative of that right.

The absence of a legal right to repair framework becomes even more problematic from an environmental standpoint. India is currently the world’s third-largest producer of electronic garbage, after China and the US. The E-Waste (Management) Rules, which is in effect since 2011 primarily addresses the processes that take place after the waste is created, such as collection, recycling and disposal, thereby largely neglecting design-stage issues including product longevity, simplicity of repair, modularity, and planned obsolescence. Therefore, the law overemphasizes the effects rather than underscoring the causes of e-waste development.

There seems to be a gradual move towards formally recognizing repairability in India through policy measures. As a companion to India’s Right to Repair Portal, the Department of Consumer Affairs proposed a Repairability Index (RI) for mobile phones and specific electronic items in 2025. Under this, manufacturers must self-declare repairability scores based on factors such as repair instructions, square component availability and ease of disassembly. This turns repairability into a measurable feature which in turn helps consumers to make informed choices and push companies towards using sustainable designs.

Right to Repair in India is hence becoming an increasingly significant legal right for the masses to avail; However, repair rights in India continue to be inconsistent, optional, and poorly enforceable in the absence of a legally binding framework. Therefore, to include consumer protection, competitive concerns, and environmental sustainability into a cohesive right-to-repair regime, a clear legal framework is required.

Right to Repair: An Essential in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

A crucial juncture between technological progress and environmental sustainability is aptly represented by the right to repair in the age of Artificial Intelligence. Particularly for India as it offers a revolutionary opportunity to equalize sustainability of the environment as well modernization.

To begin with, our daily lives have become increasingly embedded with AI-driven devices like smartphones, laptops, television sets, and even autonomous humanoid systems. Their rapid planned obsolescence that aids the obstruction of consumer agency, economic inclusivity and their constitutional right to a clean environment. Manufacturers enforce such restricted repairability through sealed casings, fastened components, or proprietary software locks, which makes repair difficult and often pushes consumers towards costly replacements. A legislated right to repair would enable individuals to access affordable fixes for otherwise perfectly functional devices, sparing them from discarding hardware in favour of an upgraded model. The same principle also applies to the hardware devices used for the creation, maintenance and functioning of AI systems, such as graphics processing units or tensor processing units, which also can benefit from extended lifespans and increased repairability, ultimately mitigating the environmental damage caused by discarded electronics.

Moreover, A Right to repair shall also users to combat excessive upsurge in global water wastage, and in turn the rise in global temperature that it contributes to, by allowing users to seek self-coded or independently-sourced diagnostics on any anomalies in their AI software, without needing to resort to unnecessary, more advanced replacements which contribute to more ecological damage. Increasingly complex AI models, especially the newly-developed agentic AI systems, demand higher water usage and emit more carbon footprints to operate, and such a strain could be diminished through reliance on existing AI systems which only require patch-fixing of minor bugs to fully utilize their current efficiency.

In this way, the formal implementation of the Right to Repair within the Indian legislation could not only strengthen consumer rights but also ensure that India is responding to the environmental consequences of AI in a manner that is equal parts corrective as it is proactive. 

Suggestions to the Framework

A myriad of measures are necessary to effectively incorporate the Right to Repair into India’s environmental framework. Legal mandates, such as Canada’s Bill C-244 or the American state law Digital Fair Repair Act, should bind manufacturers to provide repair manuals, spare parts and diagnostic tools for AI-enabled devices. India’s Repairability Index must be proliferated to include more AI-driven products, including smart appliances, wearables, and autonomous systems. Repairability should be associated with India’s E-Waste Management Rules, ensuring that Extended roducer Responsibility is inclusive of repairability as a compliance metric. Safe and sustainable practices while preserving livelihoods can be attained by training and formalizing India’s vast informal repair workforce and integrating them into certified networks. Normalization of repair culture through consumer awareness campaigns under  Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) could effectively reduce stigma around refurbished devices. Finally, software updates that have considerable compatibility with older devices should be included in AI governance frameworks to avoid forced obsolescence thereby increasing device longevity.

The benefits of Right to Repair for India are immensely expansive. Economically, it would empower the country’s vast informal repair sector by integrating it into formal networks with training and certification, creating jobs, preserving livelihoods, and strengthening local economies through safe and sustainable practices. Environmentally, repairability would ease the mounting burden of e‑waste, conserve scarce resources like rare earth metals, and align with India’s commitments to a circular economy and climate action. Socially, it would democratize access to technology, allowing AI‑driven devices to remain usable for longer and accessible to lower‑income groups who cannot afford frequent replacements. Strategically, India could position itself as a global leader in sustainable AI adoption by linking its repair framework with initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission and the Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) movement. Mandating backward compatibility in AI software updates would further prevent forced obsolescence, ensuring devices remain functional as systems evolve.

Conclusion

India’s economic and technical future depends upon addressing artificial intelligence’s environmental effects through structural legislative solutions rather than after-the-fact mitigation. The material footprint of AI, which includes technological waste due to increased water and energy use, reveals the limitations of considering digital technologies to be ecologically neutral. The right to repair acts as a preventive legal instrument in this situation. A legally enforceable repair mechanism directly augments the environmental scenario amidst AI driven growth by giving consumers more choice, increasing product longevity and decreasing planned obsolescence.

Despite the considerable acknowledgement of repairability, the absence of a legally binding structure continues to restrict the impact of current legislative initiatives. Substantiating an equilibrium of technological progress and environmental protection is most certainly accomplishable if the right to repair is incorporated into India’s competition, consumer and environmental laws. This will ensure AI-driven growth as well as its mutual existence and augmentation with environmental sustainability.