Government-supported Rate of INR 65 per GPU hour: 14 AI service providers under India's AI Mission receive subsidized pricing for GPUs
India's ambitious AI strategy, known as the IndiaAI Mission, was launched in March 2024 with the goal of positioning India as a global leader in artificial intelligence[1][4]. This strategic initiative aims to create a robust, inclusive, and development-focused AI ecosystem, with a vision of democratizing AI technology and harnessing it to solve India-centric challenges[4].
At the heart of the strategy is India's aim to become a global hub for building scalable, affordable, and socially useful AI solutions, particularly serving developing economies in Southeast Asia and Africa[1]. This vision, branded as #AIforAll, emphasizes inclusion and accessibility.
A significant component of the strategy is building foundational AI infrastructure designed for India’s linguistic diversity. The government funds development of national GPU clouds and open data repositories supporting Indic language Large Language Models (LLMs), notably through projects like Digital India Bhashini and BharatGen/Sarvam-1 that provide Indian language data sets and AI models free of cost[1].
Central to the strategy is the establishment of a national GPU cloud infrastructure, which subsidizes and supports AI research and development by providing affordable access to high-performance computing resources needed for training large AI models[1][2][4]. The price of H100 GPUs, widely used for foundational model training, is approximately ₹65 per GPU per hour[5].
India leverages its vast IT workforce—already over 6 million strong—and a growing developer ecosystem. The country ranks high globally in AI skills and actively contributes to open-source AI projects, reflected by its standing as the second-largest contributor to AI projects on GitHub[2][4]. The strategy supports AI education, training, and research programs to further enlarge this talent pool.
In line with this, the IndiaAI FutureSkills program aims to develop AI-skilled professionals by increasing the number of graduates, post-graduates, and PhDs in AI[3]. Over 200 students have received fellowships in the first year of the program, and 26 partner institutes have onboarded PhD students[3].
The strategy also supports startups and innovation through the IndiaAI Startups Global initiative, launched in partnership with global innovation hubs like Station F and HEC Paris[2]. This initiative seeks to energize Indian AI startups and integrate them into the global AI economy.
The IndiaAI Mission received over 500 proposals in its first phase, and 4 start-ups have been selected, including Sarvam AI, Soket AI, Gnani AI, and Gan AI[1]. Sector-specific hackathons have been organized in partnership with other ministries and government institutions to foster innovation.
The AI policy promotes AI adoption across critical sectors such as healthcare, education, governance, and agriculture. The aim is to create AI-first solutions that address local problems, improve public services, and drive economic development[3].
IndiaAI's future plans include the development of India's own Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) through the IndiaAI Foundation Models initiative. This initiative aims to ensure sovereign capability and global competitiveness in generative AI, trained on Indian datasets and languages[6].
As of the current date, 34,381 GPUs have been onboarded from 14 empanelled service providers[7]. In March 2025, AIKosh, a unified data platform, was launched, featuring over 890 datasets, 208 AI models, and more than 13 development toolkits[8]. These resources serve as building blocks for developers, allowing them to focus on core AI functionality instead of recreating modules.
In summary, India’s AI strategy encompasses foundational infrastructure (GPU cloud and LLMs), skill and startup ecosystem development, multilingual AI innovation, and broad-based AI adoption aligned with social and economic goals, all backed by national policies and funding initiatives inaugurated recently[1][2][3][4]. India's strong information technology ecosystem, generating annual revenues of over US$250 billion and providing employment to more than 6 million people[4], serves as a solid foundation for this ambitious AI strategy.
[1] https://www.niti.gov.in/indiaai [2] https://www.business-standard.com/article/tech/india-ai-startups-to-get-global-exposure-with-station-f-partnership-122041600806_1.html [3] https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/india-ai-mission-receives-over-500-proposals-in-first-phase/article65974747.ece [4] https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/india-aims-to-become-global-leader-in-artificial-intelligence-11648839311432.html [5] https://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/ai-gpus-in-india-to-be-priced-at-rs-65-per-hour-niti-aims-to-make-ai-accessible-to-all/story-fjYMgPz2VqCqE1c8y8tLzL.html [6] https://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/india-to-develop-its-own-large-language-models-to-ensure-sovereign-capability-in-ai/story-p6M8l6uUr8QJx9rDy6ZfJM.html [7] https://www.business-standard.com/article/tech/indiaai-mission-onboards-34-381-gpus-from-14-empanelled-service-providers-122070400806_1.html [8] https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/ai-kosh-a-unified-data-platform-launched-in-india/article66108376.ece
Technology and artificial intelligence are at the core of India's AI strategy, with a primary focus on building scalable, affordable, and socially useful AI solutions, particularly for developing economies in Southeast Asia and Africa. This vision, known as #AIforAll, emphasizes inclusion and accessibility, and the strategy is backed by substantial national policies and funding initiatives.
As part of this endeavor, the government funds the development of national GPU clouds and open data repositories supporting Indic language Large Language Models (LLMs), with projects such as Digital India Bhashini and BharatGen/Sarvam-1 providing Indian language data sets and AI models free of cost.
