India set to launch its AI model in next 10 months, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announces India's plan to develop a homegrown AI model within 10 months, supported by 18,000 GPUs, focusing on Indian context

Union Minister of Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said the country’s large language model (LLM) is expected to be ready within the next 10 months.

 

During a press conference on the India AI Mission on Thursday, Vaishnaw said, “We have created the framework, and it is being launched today. Our focus is on building AI models that maintain the Indian context and culture.”

 

He said the project will be supported by the India AI Compute Facility, which has procured 18,693 GPUs to facilitate the creation of a LLM designed specifically for India, CNBC-TV18 reported.

 

Vaishnaw emphasised India’s AI capabilities by comparing the country’s infrastructure to global benchmarks. “DeepSeek AI was trained on 2,000 GPUs, ChatGPT was trained on 25,000 GPUs, and we now have 15,000 high-end GPUs available. India now has a robust compute facility that will support our AI ambitions,” CNBC-TV18 quoted him as saying.

 

A shared compute facility with 18,000 GPUs has been launched, designed to be accessible to startups, researchers, and developers. Around 10,000 GPUs are already operational, he said.

 

“The technical partners started working and investing well before the finalisation. This facility will be available for everyone to use,” Vaishnaw added.

 

GPU providers for this initiative include Jio Platforms, Tata Communications, Yotta, and NextGen Data Centre. For comparison, DeepSeek was trained using 2,500 GPUs.

India’s own AI model

A key goal of the India AI Mission is to develop a domestically-produced AI model tailored to the country's linguistic and cultural diversity. The government has called for proposals from AI startups, with six major developers now working on models expected to be ready in 4–6 months, with a maximum timeline of 8–10 months.

 

“With algorithmic efficiency, we can create these models in a much shorter time frame. We will have a world-class foundational AI model in just a few months,” the minister said.