In a major boost to the AI ecosystem, Union Budget has allocated Rs 2,000 crore to the IndiaAI Mission. The Rs 2,000 crore allocation is nearly a fifth of the scheme’s Rs 10,370 crore outlay. Announced in March 2024, the mission aims to make India a global AI leader and democratize AI benefits.
The initial budget allocation for the IndiaAI Mission in the 2024-25 Union Budget was Rs 552 crore. However, it was later reduced and the revised estimate for the same was Rs 173 crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her speech also said that the government will set up a centre of excellence in artificial intelligence (AI) for education. The total outlay for the same will be Rs 500 crore. Sitharaman said in her speech, “I had announced three Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for agriculture, health, and sustainable cities in 2023. Now a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education will be set up with a total outlay of Rs 500 crore.”
The increased focus on the IndiaAI Mission comes at a time when the government on January 30, called for proposals to build India’s foundational AI models.
Proposals have been invited from startups, researchers, and entrepreneurs to build state-of-the-art foundational AI models that would be trained with the help of Indian data sets. “This initiative aims to establish indigenous AI models that align with global standards while addressing unique challenges and opportunities within the Indian context,” says the government website.
Meanwhile, the IndiaAI mission is also focussed on developing computing infrastructure. For the same, the mission aims to make the availability of 10,000 GPUs for AI compute infrastructure. A report by Moneycontrol indicates that firms such as Jio Platforms, Tata Communications, CMS Computers India Pvt Ltd, Ctrls Datacenters Ltd, E2E Networks Limited, Locuz Enterprise Solutions Ltd have been selected by the government for bidding process to procure 10,000 GPUs under the mission.
To add to it, on January 30, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India is all set to launch its own indigenous AI model. His statement comes at a time when low cost open AI model launched by Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek is causing uproar. Many have also questioned the lack of availability of India’s own AI model.
The Economic Survey that was tabled on the Parliament on January 31, also talked about the importance of AI. It said that collaboration between different stakeholders is pertinent for safe usage of AI. “A tripartite compact between the government, private sector and academia can ensure that the gains from AI-driven productivity are widely distributed, taking us in the direction of the ideal inclusive growth strategy,” says the survey.
