New Delhi: India is set to launch its own safe and secure indigenous AI model at an affordable cost. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Ashwini Vaishnaw announced this in New Delhi at Electronics Niketan. Interacting with the media, the minister said that the Indian AI model is a timely step, as India is a trusted nation among the global community. It will help India emerge as a reliable technological powerhouse for ethical AI solutions.
Backed by a high-end common computing facility, the India AI Mission is moving closer to customising indigenous AI solutions for the Indian context using Indian languages. Scientists, researchers, developers, and coders are working on multiple foundational models. Given the pace of work, the minister expressed hope that the Indian AI model will be ready within six months.
The AI model is starting with a computing facility of roughly 10,000 GPUs. The remaining 8,693 GPUs will be added soon. Initially, it will largely benefit researchers, students, and developers. Technical partners participating in the mission have expressed confidence in its ability to democratise access to computing at a highly competitive rate. The government has decided to offer the facility for less than 100 rupees per GPU hour after subsidising 40% of the cost. Compared to global models costing 2.5 to 3 dollars per hour, India’s AI model will cost less than 100 rupees per hour. Attractive half-yearly and annual plans will further enhance affordability.
Within ten months of the launch of the India AI Mission, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received an unprecedented response and created a high-end and robust common computing facility with 18,693 GPUs ready for use. This is about nine times the capacity of the open-source model DeepSeek and approximately two-thirds of ChatGPT’s capacity. Answering media queries, the minister said that DeepSeek can be hosted on Indian servers after security checks so that coders, developers, and designers can benefit from its open-source code.
Ensuring the safe and ethical deployment of the AI model remains a top priority for the government. To strengthen this commitment, India is establishing an AI Safety Institute, adopting a techno-legal approach.
BI Bureau
