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India should not emulate or compete head-on with the massive Large Language Models (LLMs) currently dominating the AI landscape, Zoho founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu has said, advocating that the country should focus on smaller models or other approaches that are less-energy, less capital intensive. The remarks come at a time when interest in artificial intelligence (AI) has peaked in India, with the country soon to host the India AI Impact Summit - the largest of the four major global AI congregations so far. Vembu's view also aligns with the recent Economic Survey, which noted that India's limited access to cutting-edge compute infrastructure and capital makes pursuit of foundational models as the centrepiece of an AI strategy rather "challenging". The Survey favoured a bottom-up approach to AI development saying it aligns more closely with realities. In an interview with PTI, Vembu cited the USD 50-100 billion costs and high-energy demands of large models built by the
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said India's IT sector is moving to an AI-driven services model with coordinated efforts from industry, academia, and the government. He said AI presents a major opportunity for India to develop a new model of services for the global market. Citing examples, Vaishnaw noted that AI-based solutions could be offered to global shipping lines and retail companies through global capability centers (GCCs) in India, creating opportunities for Indian engineers. The Union Minister for Electronics and IT added that, due to the government's focus on IT services, a large number of GCCs are being set up in India. "At the last count, more than 2,000 GCCs have already come to India, which is far more than in traditional IT services," he said. Vaishnaw highlighted that the Union Budget has announced major reforms for data centers to support the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. "Indian IT is moving from the old model to a new AI-based services