India’s AI breakthrough: Powering future with affordable innovation

New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) India is witnessing a transformative revolution in Artificial Intelligence (AI) under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

For the first time in India’s history, the government is directly fostering an AI ecosystem where computing power, GPUs, and research opportunities are available at an affordable cost.

The government has ensured that AI is not just for a privileged few and is not dominated by big tech companies and global giants. Through ground-breaking policies, the government is enabling students, startups, and innovators to access world-class AI infrastructure, creating a truly level playing field. This includes the IndiaAI mission or establishing Centers of Excellence for AI.

Here’s a sneak peek into the Modi government’s efforts to make India a global AI leader:

IndiaAI mission: Pioneering accessible AI

Marking a significant step towards bolstering India’s AI ecosystem, the Modi government in 2024 approved the IndiaAI Mission with the allocation of Rs 10,300 crore. This funding, slated over the next five years, is poised to catalyse various components of the IndiaAI mission.

The mission, backed by a high-end common computing facility, is now closer to customising indigenous AI solutions for the Indian context using Indian languages.

The AI model is beginning with the computation facility of roughly 10,000 Graphic Processing Units (GPU). Soon, the remaining 8,693 GPUs will be added.

GPU infrastructure and open GPU market

Within 10 months of the launch of India AI Mission, the nodal ministry has been able to get an unprecedented response and create a high-end and robust common computing facility of about 18,693 GPUs.

It is about nine times what the Open-Source Model DeepSeek has and about two-thirds of what ChatGPT has.

Notably, the Modi government has pioneered the opening of India’s GPU marketplace, and it is the first government to open the GPU marketplace in India, enabling small startups, researchers, and students to access high-performance computing resources, unlike major countries where the AI market is often dominated by large industry players.

The government will make available 18,000 high-end GPU-based compute facilities for AI development to entities in the country in the next couple of days, and out of that, 10,000 are already available.

The government has also selected 10 companies that will supply 18,693 GPUs. Additionally, India will develop its own GPU in the next three to five years, and a domestic foundational AI platform can be expected in the next 10 months.

The government will soon launch a common computing facility where startups and researchers can access computing power. While global GPU access costs around $2.5-$3 per hour, the government will offer it at just $1 per hour.

IndiaAI Dataset Platform: Enabling AI Innovation with Open Data

The government has been actively working to make open datasets accessible to the larger research community.

The government, through the IndiaAI Dataset platform, aims to streamline access to high-quality, non-personal datasets, creating a unified data platform that enables seamless access for Indian startups and researchers, accelerating AI-driven innovation.

Establishment of AI Centres of Excellence

In 2023, the Modi government announced the establishment of three AI Centres of Excellence (CoE) focused on healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities. The Budget 2025 also announced setting up a new CoE for AI for education with an outlay of Rs 500 crore. The CoE for AI in education is the fourth such centre to be announced.

The government has also revealed plans for five national CoEs for skilling, designed to equip youth with industry-relevant expertise. These centres will be set up with global partnerships to support Make for India, and Make for the World manufacturing.

India’s foundational Large Language Models (LLMs)

India is not only developing a robust AI ecosystem but has already made significant strides in creating foundational AI models. The government has ensured that India’s AI advancements are indigenous.

One of the standout achievements is Digital India BHASHINI, India’s AI-led language translation platform, which seeks to enable easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages, including voice-based access, and help the creation of content in Indian languages.

BharatGen is the world’s first government-funded multimodal LLM initiative. The generative AI, launched in 2024, has been designed to revolutionise public service delivery and boost citizen engagement by developing a suite of foundational models in language, speech, and computer vision.

Another is Sarvam-1 AI Model, which is optimised explicitly for Indian languages, addressing a critical gap in the AI landscape. Sarvam-1, boasting 2 billion parameters, supports 10 major Indian languages, demonstrating its potential to revolutionise various applications such as language translation, text summariation, and content generation.

India leads global AI talent and skill penetration

Under the IndiaAI future skills initiative, AI courses will be expanded across undergraduate, postgraduate, and Ph.D. programmes. Additionally, fellowships are being provided to full-time Ph.D. scholars researching AI in the top 50 NIRF-ranked research institutes.

According to the Stanford AI Index 2024, India also leads globally in AI skill penetration.

India ranks first globally in AI skill penetration with a score of 2.8, surpassing the US (2.2) and Germany (1.9). The country has also witnessed a remarkable 263 per cent growth in AI talent concentration since 2016, positioning itself as a major global player in AI.

–IANS

rvt/