22 of 67 AI Project Proposals Under IndiaAI Mission For Building LLMs: Vaishnaw

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday that 22 of the 67 proposals under the India AI mission scheme to support AI projects in the country with compute facilities are for developing Large Language Models (LLMs).

“We are also going to set up 27 AI labs in tier 3- 4 cities and will also inculcate AI education for higher secondary classes in the school education”, added Vaishnaw. 

Minister was speaking at the official launch of the AIKosha & AI Compute Portal, enabling India's Research and Innovation Ecosystem on March 6th, 2025.  

“We are using public funds for enhancing compute facilities, while in many countries it is in the hands of private companies. Therefore, we provide the cheapest compute facilities in the world which is  Rs 67/GPU hour”, Vaishnaw informed. 

“Data from Bhashini, the government’s language AI initiative, is now available on AI Kosh, facilitating open access to valuable linguistic datasets, " he added.

With a 14,000-GPU compute facility now available, the country is making significant strides in AI infrastructure. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasised that these achievements are the result of a decade of hard work under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

Another significant launch at the event was the Competency Framework for Public Sector Officials, aimed at enhancing their AI proficiency and capabilities. The Need for a Competency Framework India's public sector plays a critical role in leveraging AI to drive developmental and economic goals.

According to Adil Zainulbhai, Chairman, Capacity Building Commision, highlighting the growing adoption of AI in governance, the chief said that 1.3 million civil servants have signed up for AI-related courses, with 9,000 successfully completing their AI training.

The Minister, along with his team—including S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, and Abhishek Singh, CEO, IndiaAI Mission—assured that India will have its own AI foundation model within the next year.

LLMs, which form the backbone of generative AI applications, require vast computational power and large-scale datasets for training. By leveraging these GPUs, IndiaAI aims to create AI models that can drive advancements across sectors. 

With the IndiaAI Mission gaining momentum, the government is set to collaborate with academic institutions, research organizations, and industry leaders to accelerate AI adoption and innovation. This milestone underscores India’s ambition to become a global AI powerhouse, fostering technological self-reliance and economic growth.