India's AI Revolution: 67 Proposals Submitted to Develop Indigenous Models

As of February 15, IndiaAI Mission had received 67 proposals for developing indigenous artificial intelligence models. This marks a significant milestone in India's push for AI self-reliance. Among these submissions, 22 focus on foundational models, including large language models (LLMs) and large multimodal models (LMMs).

On the other hand, 45 proposals target domain-specific Small Language Models (SLMs) for sectors such as healthcare, education, and finance.

The IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC) asked for proposals in January. Then, numerous contributions from startups and researchers developed AI models trained specifically on Indian datasets. The Economic Times reports that application numbers surged to 120 by March 15, indicating growing interest in India's artificial intelligence development ecosystem.

IndiaAI has also established Srijan—a Center for Generative AI at IIT Jodhpur—in collaboration with Meta. Additionally, the mission launched the "YuvAi Initiative for Skilling and Capacity Building" alongside the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to accelerate open-source AI development across India.

"Through education, capacity building, and policy advisory, the Government of India will be empowering the next generation of researchers, students, and practitioners with the knowledge and tools necessary for the responsible development and deployment of GenAI technologies," stated a PIB release.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman strengthened this commitment in the February Union Budget by allocating Rs 500 crore for a Centre of Excellence (CoE) focused on AI for education. The budget simultaneously introduced plans to launch 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in government schools over the next five years.

Industry experts view these initiatives as addressing a critical gap in India's artificial intelligence landscape—connecting theoretical research with practical implementation in educational settings.

The government has further expanded its AI efforts through the Digital India Bhashini initiative, which provides AI-driven language solutions for all 22 Scheduled Indian Languages. This platform enables voice-based access and supports native language content creation, aiming to develop speech-to-speech machine translation systems for diverse Indian languages and dialects.

By partnering with over 70 research institutes, Bhashini has fostered the development of advanced language AI tools, hosting more than 350 AI-based solutions, including Automatic Speech Recognition, Machine Translation, Text-to-Speech, and Optical Character Recognition services. These technologies cover more than 17 language services, advancing India's multilingual artificial intelligence capabilities.