India's AI-powered TB elimination strategy is reshaping public health economics.

India's AI-powered TB elimination strategy is reshaping public health economics. The government has increased TB funding tenfold to 6,356 crore rupees in FY26 from 640 crore in 2015, deploying 3,000 AI-powered X-ray devices across 158,000 high-risk villages and urban zones. This investment is delivering measurable returns: TB incidence dropped 21 percent to 187 per 100,000 people between 2015 and 2024, nearly double the global decline rate. Mortality fell 25 percent over the same period. The deployment of AI chatbots, predictive models, and symptom-agnostic screening has slashed diagnostic delays by half while identifying 1.09 million previously asymptomatic cases since late 2024. Treatment coverage now reaches 92 percent with 90 percent success rates.