Acknowledgments xi

Executive Summary xiii

Abbreviations xv

Chapter 1 South Asia’s High-Energy Growth 1

  Summary 3

  Global developments and outlook 4

  Developments in South Asia 7

  Sectoral developments 9

  Country developments 10

  Outlook for South Asian countries 13

  Risks and vulnerabilities 15

    Persistently elevated energy prices 15

    Reversal in global AI activity 17

    Food insecurity and natural disasters 20

  Policy challenges 21

    Scaling up energy generation 21

    Creating jobs with low entry barriers at scale 24

    Realizing the promise of AI 32

  Annex 1.1 Policy and macroeconomic response to the energy price shock 36

  References 38

Chapter 2 Delivering the Promise of AI in South Asia 43

  Introduction 45

  Firm-level AI adoption: Evidence from a representative sample of formal firms in India 52

  How AI is shaping South Asia’s GVC relationships 56

  The impact of AI-assisted teachers: Evidence from a winter school 60

  Data centers: Benefits and costs in South Asia 64

  Policies to realize AI promise in South Asia 67

  Annex 2.1 Data sources 72

  Annex 2.2 Empirical strategy and methods 77

  References 85