India Accelerates AI Ambitions: Government Assigns GPU Projects Under IndiaAI Mission

IndiaAI GPU tender: Lowest bidders receive AI workloads

Under the IndiaAI Mission, MeitY assigned AI projects to Yotta, E2E Networks, and NxtGen, offering GPUs at subsidised rates. The companies will supply over 11,600 GPUs collectively. India offers the world's lowest GPU usage rate, aiming to boost AI capabilities amid global chip shortages and rising demand.The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday assigned artificial intelligence projects, or workloads, to three companies selected to supply GPUs under the IndiaAI Mission. Hiranandani Group's Yotta Data Services, E2E Networks and NxtGen Cloud Technologies will provide AI compute units to startups, academic institutions and organisations selected by the ministry for access to GPUs at a subsidised rate. The subsidised rate being offered under IndiaAI, less than $1 per hour, is the lowest in the world. The government has not named the beneficiaries of the programme. GPUs are a coveted resource worldwide with countries like the US imposing export restrictions on advanced AI chips including GPUs, to protect its AI leadership and national security. The average discount from market prices for AI compute services is 42%. While E2E Networks and NxtGen were the lowest (L1) bidders in the categories where they offered to supply GPUs, Yotta was the second lowest. Under the terms for the GPUs, when a particular company wants a certain number of GPUs of a particular model, and if the L1 bidders are unable to supply it, the next lower bidder is approached. Only these three companies have integrated with the IndiaAI Compute Portal of the government, sources said. Yotta has offered to supply 9,216 GPUs, while E2E has offered 1,353 GPUs and NxtGen, 1,088 GPUs. The other three L1 bidders - Jio Platforms, Locuz Enterprise Solutions and CtrlS Datacenters -- did not comment on when they will integrate with the portal. Workloads or AI projects can only be assigned once service providers have procured the GPUs themselves and have integrated with the project. The users too will have to register through the portal for applying for AI resources. The IndiaAI Mission, Yotta, E2E, and NxtGen did not respond to requests for comment. While IndiaAI had made the L1 bidders in each AI compute category public in January, in another memo sent last week, it named the ten empanelled bidders who are the next lowest bidders too (L2, L3, L4, and L5). Companies like Yotta, Tata Communications, CMS Computers, Orient Technologies, Vensysco Technologies have emerged as L2, L3, L4, and L5 bidders in various GPU categories. As per the memo, seen by ET, the companies will have to provide the GPU access latest by August, which is within six months of getting the letter of intent that was sent on February 7. The L1 bidder in each compute category would be the preferred service provider for that category. When awarding projects to the empanelled bidders, IndiaAI will direct all requests to the L1 bidder until its capacity is exhausted. "Subsequently, requests will be assigned using a round robin method, progressing from next lowest bidder to L5, and so forth, until all empanelled agencies have exhausted their capacities," the memo said. India had formally launched its Rs 10,000 crore IndiaAI Mission in January under which it plans to offer close to 15,000 GPUs. As part of the mission, the government is also incentivising the development of local language models built by academia and industry with investment capital and other support. The move is aimed at building up India's AI prowess. Under the IndiaAI Mission, the government got commitments for 18,693 GPUs, against its target of 10,000 GPUs. It is also planning to launch a second round to procure another 15,000 GPUs, ET reported on April 19.

Centre Looks To Add Another 15,000 GPUs Under IndiaAI Mission

It is observed that the deadline has been pushed for the second time, which was initially set for April 15 The government is reportedly considering adding 15,000 more graphics processing units (GPUs) through procurement and supply under the IndiaAI Mission. An ET report, citing a senior government official, said that these additions will now take the total number of GPUs to 29,000. Earlier this month, ten tech companies including E2E, NxtGen and Locuz offered 14,517 GPUs at L1 rates against the tender for 10,000 GPUs. Meanwhile, IndiaAI in a LinkedIn post has said that the submission deadline for foundation model proposals is being extended to April 30, in the wake of "receiving overwhelming response" under the IndiaAI Innovation initiative. It is observed that the deadline has been pushed for the second time, which was initially set for April 15 and later extended to April 22 for the third round of applications. IndiaAI Mission was approved in March 2024, with an allocation of INR 10,372 Cr over the course of next five years. It aims to create an AI ecosystem, offering supercomputing capabilities comprising over 10,000 GPUs to various stakeholders.

Govt Assigns AI Workloads To Yotta, NxtGen & E2E: Report

Yotta has offered to supply 9,216 GPUs, while E2E offered 1,353 GPUs and NxtGen, 1,088 GPUs, respectively The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has reportedly assigned artificial intelligence projects to three companies, offering graphics processing units (GPUs) under the IndiaAI Mission. The companies include Hiranandani Group's Yotta Data Services, E2E Networks and NxtGen Cloud Technologies, ET reported. These entities will supply AI compute units to startups, academic institutions and organisations selected by the ministry for access to GPUs at a subsidised rate. The subsidised rate being offered under IndiaAI, less than $1 per hour, is the lowest in the world. However, the government has not named the beneficiaries of the programme. This comes at the heart of reports saying that MeitY is looking to offer incentives to startups such as Sarvam AI, Soket AI Labs, Gnani.ai and Gan.ai to build frontier AI models, while Sarvam AI is also likely to receive GPU compute power worth INR 200 Cr from the Centre for free. Notably, the report disclosed that E2E Networks and NxtGen were the lowest (L1) bidders in the categories where they offered to supply GPUs, Yotta stood second from the last. Only these three companies have integrated with the IndiaAI Compute Portal of the government, the report said citing sources. Yotta has offered to supply 9,216 GPUs, while E2E offered 1,353 GPUs and NxtGen, 1,088 GPUs, respectively. Meanwhile, companies such as Reliance Jio and CtrlS, also emerged as the lowest price (L1) bidders in the tender for sourcing graphics processing units (GPUs). With the bids received until April, ten tech companies including the aforementioned companies have offered 14,517 GPUs at L1 rates against the tender for 10,000 GPUs.