Govt to support 20 indigenous sovereign AI models under IndiaAI Mission

Govt has identified 20 indigenous sovereign AI models for support under the IndiaAI Mission, spanning LLMs, speech, video and domain-specific applications, while expanding AI infra and skilling

The government has identified 20 indigenous sovereign AI model proposals for support under the IndiaAI Mission, comprising 12 large language models (LLMs) and eight small language models (SLMs), Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament on Wednesday.

 

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said the IndiaAI Mission aims to create economic opportunities and employment for India's youth while addressing the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI). "The Government of India is supporting Indian startups and institutions to develop large language models. Twenty indigenous sovereign model proposals have been identified for support, comprising 12 LLMs and eight SLMs," the minister said, reported ANI.

 

 

Which AI models have been selected for support?

 

The government-backed proposals span a range of generative AI applications. Among the projects under development are Sarvam AI's 30-billion and 105-billion parameter models, Gnani.ai's speech-to-speech model, BharatGen's multilingual foundation models and Avataar AI's video generation model.

 

Several specialised AI models for healthcare, language technologies and agentic AI are also being developed as part of the initiative.

 

How is the IndiaAI Mission supporting AI development?

 

Speaking on India's AI strategy, Vaishnaw said it builds on the country's $300 billion IT sector, which employs nearly six million people. The IndiaAI Mission comprises seven pillars, including AI model development, applications, datasets, talent development and affordable compute infrastructure.

 

To strengthen India's AI ecosystem, the mission has empanelled 15 compute service providers, approved 237 projects and allocated 9.3 million graphics processing unit (GPU) hours. Compute resources are available nationwide, enabling startups, researchers and institutions to access AI infrastructure irrespective of their location.

 

On the applications front, the mission has launched 12 national AI hackathons and innovation challenges, supported the development of 62 AI prototypes and facilitated the deployment of 20 AI-based solutions, said Vaishnaw.

 

What progress has been made in AI skilling and talent development?

 

The government's AI talent pipeline continues to expand. So far, 686 fellowships have been awarded across undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes across 178 institutions, while more than 2.6 million individuals have completed the YUVA AI for All programme.

 

Infrastructure development has progressed alongside skilling initiatives. According to Vaishnaw, 27 India Data and AI Labs are currently operational and have trained more than 2,500 students, while work is underway to establish another 188 labs. Additionally, 58 Artificial Intelligence Centres of Excellence (AI-CoEs) have been approved across states and Union Territories in collaboration with state governments and industry partners.

 

What is India's framework for safe and trusted AI?

 

Vaishnaw informed Parliament that the India AI Governance Guidelines, released on November 5, 2025, provide a national framework for the safe, responsible and inclusive development and deployment of artificial intelligence, ANI reported.

 

Under the mission's Safe and Trusted AI pillar, 13 projects have been selected covering areas such as explainability, bias mitigation, privacy-preserving AI, algorithm auditing, deepfake detection, AI forensics, risk assessment and generative AI security.