India is undergoing 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.
Through groundbreaking policies, the government is ensuring that AI is accessible to students, startups, and innovators, rather than being dominated by big tech companies and global giants. This includes initiatives like the IndiaAI mission and the establishment of Centers of Excellence (CoEs) for AI.
IndiaAI Mission: Pioneering Accessible AI
In 2024, the Modi government approved the IndiaAI Mission with an allocation of $1.24 billion over five years, aiming to bolster India’s AI ecosystem. Backed by a high-end common computing facility, the mission is moving closer to customizing indigenous AI solutions for the Indian context using Indian languages. The AI model is starting with a computation facility of roughly 10,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), with an additional 8,693 GPUs to be added soon.
GPU Infrastructure and Open GPU Market
Within 10 months of the IndiaAI Mission launch, the nodal ministry has created a high-end and robust common computing facility of about 18,693 GPUs. This is approximately nine times what the Open-Source Model DeepSeek has and about two-thirds of what ChatGPT has. The Modi government has pioneered the opening of India’s GPU marketplace, enabling small startups, researchers, and students to access high-performance computing resources.
The government plans to make 18,000 high-end GPU-based compute facilities available for AI development, with 10,000 already accessible. Additionally, India will develop its own GPU within the next three to five years, and a domestic foundational AI platform is expected in the next 10 months. A common computing facility will soon be launched, providing computing power to startups and researchers at an affordable rate of $1 per hour, compared to the global rate of $2.5-$3 per hour.
IndiaAI Dataset Platform: Enabling AI Innovation with Open Data
The government is actively working to make open datasets accessible to the research community through the IndiaAI Dataset platform. This unified data platform aims to streamline access to high-quality, non-personal datasets, accelerating AI-driven innovation for Indian startups and researchers.
Establishment of AI Centers of Excellence
In 2023, the Modi government announced the establishment of three AI Centers of Excellence (CoE) focused on healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities. The Budget 2025 also announced a new CoE for AI in education with an outlay of $60 million. Plans for five national CoEs for skilling, designed to equip youth with industry-relevant expertise, have also been revealed. These centers 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 making significant strides in creating foundational AI models. The government has ensured that India’s AI advancements are indigenous. One standout achievement is Digital India BHASHINI, an AI-led language translation platform enabling easy access to the internet and digital services in Indian languages. BharatGen, the world’s first government-funded multimodal LLM initiative, launched in 2024, aims to revolutionize public service delivery and boost citizen engagement. Another model, Sarvam-1, optimized for Indian languages, supports 10 major Indian languages with 2 billion parameters.
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. programs. 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 ranks first globally in AI skill penetration with a score of 2.8, surpassing the US and Germany. The country has witnessed a remarkable 263% growth in AI talent concentration since 2016, positioning itself as a major global player in AI.
