In a major leap towards strengthening India’s artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, homegrown startup Sarvam AI has been selected to develop the country’s first indigenous foundational AI model. The announcement was made by Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw during the unveiling of guidelines for the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS).
Out of 67 proposals submitted, Sarvam AI — backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners — emerged as the top choice. The Minister expressed confidence that Sarvam’s models would be competitive with global AI models, underscoring the ambition to position India at the forefront of AI innovation.
The startup, co-founded by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, committed to building the AI platform within six months. “Building an AI ecosystem for India has always been core to Sarvam’s mission, where our research, technology, and models empower builders to create solutions for the country,” said Kumar. As part of their Sovereign LLM proposal, Sarvam is currently developing three model variants tailored to India’s needs.
To accelerate development, the government has allocated 400 GPUs to Sarvam AI for the next six months. The platform being built will feature large language models with 70 billion parameters, a scale comparable to leading global AI models.
Sarvam AI’s rapid rise has drawn attention in India’s startup ecosystem. In December 2023, the company raised $41 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed, with participation from Peak XV Partners and Khosla Ventures.
This move aligns with the broader national strategy under the IndiaAI Mission, launched in 2024 with a budget allocation of ₹10,300 crore over five years. The mission aims to develop sovereign AI capabilities, enhance research and innovation, and foster a thriving AI ecosystem in the country.
As part of this initiative, the government has launched platforms like AIKosha — a sovereign dataset repository — and the AI Compute Portal, which provides access to 14,000 live GPUs, with an additional 4,000 units expected soon. The AI Compute Portal offers subsidised GPU access to startups, researchers, and institutions, helping to democratise AI development resources.
Looking ahead, India has also set an ambitious target to develop domestic GPUs within the next three to five years, further reducing reliance on imported technologies and strengthening indigenous capabilities.
The selection of Sarvam AI marks a significant step in India’s journey toward technological sovereignty in artificial intelligence, positioning the nation to become a formidable player in the global AI landscape.
