Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Thursday that the IndiaAI Mission will acquire an additional 14,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), beyond the previously procured 18,000 GPUs.
Speaking at the CII Business Summit 2025, Vaishnaw stated, "This is a big change, and AI is here for good," emphasising the government's aim to "democratise" access to artificial intelligence and prepare the nation for swift technological transformation.
Previously, Vaishnaw announced that this computer facility will be the "most affordable" in the world, with an hourly rate of less than one dollar. Notably, the government will subsidise 40% of the AI computing costs.
The minister emphasised the need for an indigenous large language model (LLM), stating that the country will soon develop AI models created and trained on Indian data, including culture, languages, nuances, and social conventions.
Vaishnaw added that the government will promote the development of foundational AI models through the IndiaAI Mission, which will be open-source and widely accessible.
“The goal is to ensure AI tools and infrastructure are not concentrated in the hands of a few but are accessible to all innovators and developers,” Vaishnaw added.
Discussing the project to build a homegrown large language model (LLM), Vaishnaw revealed that the Centre is in the advanced stages of approving three to four applications for the AI model being developed by SarvamAI.
“So, we have taken up development of models, one of the first ones is being developed by Sarvam – there are 3-4 applications which are in the advanced stage of approvals. We are also taking up common datasets as part of this entire process so that you can develop your own applications, which are useful for you, whether it is the agriculture sector, healthcare, or industrial, whichever way. We can develop the models that are suitable for our own needs,” Vaishnaw reportedly said.
GPUs & Native LLMs
Vaishnaw announced on January 30 that the government's IndiaAI Mission has successfully empanelled around 19,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) from various data centres, including a significant number of high-end units. GPUs are semiconductor chips used for AI computation.
Vaishnaw also said that the government is looking to aid the development of 6–8 LLMs (large language models) by the Indian tech ecosystem.
“The empanelment of 19,000 GPUs marks a critical step in our AI journey. These resources will be instrumental in developing indigenous LLMs tailored to India's diverse linguistic and economic needs,” he stated.
