India backs 20 sovereign AI models to strengthen domestic AI ecosystem and counter US hegemony

India Accelerates Indigenous AI Development With 20 Sovereign Models

The Indian government has identified 20 indigenous AI foundation model proposals for support under the IndiaAI Mission, marking a significant step toward AI self-reliance. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament that these proposals comprise 12 large language models and 8 small language models designed to strengthen India's domestic AI ecosystem 1

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The IndiaAI Mission, approved by the union cabinet in March 2024 with a budget outlay of Rs.10,372 crore over five years, aims to create economic opportunities and employment while addressing risks associated with artificial intelligence. The initiative builds on India's robust IT sector, which generates annual revenue of USD 300 billion and employs 60 lakh people 2

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Homegrown AI Capabilities Take Shape Through Strategic Partnerships

Among the notable sovereign AI models receiving government backing are Sarvam AI's 30 billion parameter and 105 billion parameter models, Gnani.AI's speech-to-speech model, BharatGen's multilingual foundation models, and Avataar AI's video generation model. Of the 20 models identified, five have already been released 1

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. Domain-specific small language models for healthcare, language technologies, and agentic AI systems are at various stages of development and deployment 2

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The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has empanelled 15 compute providers under the Mission, supporting 237 projects with 93.18 lakh GPU hours sanctioned to enable AI research and development 2

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Geopolitical Tensions Drive Push for Indigenous AI

India's focus on developing indigenous AI intensified following recent geopolitical turmoil initiated by US export restrictions on advanced AI models. President Donald Trump's decision to ban exports of the most recent models from Anthropic and OpenAI, except to select "friendly countries," raised concerns among Indian policymakers about AI hegemony 3

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. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had received access to Anthropic's Claude Mythos before the export ban, prompting organizations under the ministry to complete security audits of their digital assets 3

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Building Infrastructure and Talent for AI Adoption

The government has launched 12 national-level hackathons and innovation challenges, supporting development of 62 AI prototypes and deployment of 20 AI-based solutions 2

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. For talent development, 686 fellowships have been awarded across undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programmes in 178 institutions. The YUVA AI for All programme has been completed by over 26.5 lakh individuals 2

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The government has established 27 India Data and AI Labs, providing training to more than 2,500 students, with work underway to establish 188 additional labs. A scheme to create 58 AI Centers of Excellence across States and Union Territories in collaboration with state governments and industry partners has also been approved 2

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Framework for Responsible AI Development

The IndiaAI Governance Guidelines, released on November 5, 2025, provide a national framework for safe, responsible, and inclusive AI development and deployment 2

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. Government departments are actively exploring AI applications, with the Union Water Resource Ministry recently engaging with the IndiaAI Mission to identify use cases and bolster cybersecurity—a direct result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emphasis on technology adoption, data governance, and process reforms 3

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