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IndiaAI Mission expands indigenous AI programme with 8 new participants
Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, announced on Thursday that eight additional players have been selected to develop foundation models under the IndiaAI Mission.
The new participants are BharatGen, Avataar AI, Fractal Analytics, Makers Lab by Tech Mahindra, Zeintech, Genloop, NeuroDX, and Shodh AI. They will work alongside the previously selected ones, including Sarvam AI, Gan.AI, Gnani.ai, and Soket AI Labs.
In late April, Sarvam AI was chosen to build the country’s sovereign large language model (LLM) under the mission. In May, the startup unveiled a 24-billion-parameter LLM designed for Indian languages and capable of reasoning tasks such as mathematics and programming.
“This announcement follows our work on Project Indus, India’s own Indic LLM. Built entirely in-house and at a frugal cost, the journey from open-source Project Indus to sovereign LLMs has been a rewarding experience,” Tech Mahindra said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The newly selected companies will receive a share of the incentive package, which includes grants, subsidised GPU compute credits and other forms of government support. These resources are intended to support research, model training, and the deployment of AI technologies tailored to India’s linguistic and regional diversity.
Foundation models are large-scale AI systems trained on broad datasets, capable of being adapted for multiple tasks, including language, vision and reasoning. By developing India-centric models, the mission aims to reduce dependence on foreign AI technologies and ensure that AI tools meet local needs. Applications may include government services, healthcare, education, finance and other sectors where AI can improve accessibility and efficiency.
The IndiaAI Mission itself, approved by the Union Cabinet in March 2024 with over Rs 10,300 crore in funding to be spent over five years, aims to build a comprehensive and inclusive AI ecosystem. Led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the mission seeks to foster innovation, promote technological self-reliance, and ensure that the benefits of AI reach all sections of society, positioning India as a key player in the global AI landscape.
India’s initiative is part of a growing trend of sovereign AI strategies worldwide, comparable to efforts in China, the European Union and the United States, which seek to balance innovation with security, data sovereignty and responsible AI use.
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