The government has invited bids for the empanelment of entities for providing artificial intelligence services on cloud under the Rs 10,372-crore India AI Mission.
The IndiaAI Mission, led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and implemented by the IndiaAI Independent Business Division (IBD) under the Digital India Corporation (DIC),
Objective:
Establish a strong AI computing infrastructure in India to support AI system development and testing.
Enhance data quality and foster the development of indigenous AI technologies.
Attract top talent, encourage industry collaboration, support impactful AI startups, and promote ethical AI practices.
Financial Support:
The Union Cabinet approved Rs 10,372 crore for the IndiaAI Mission.
The mission aims to build a computing capacity of over 10,000 (Graphics Processing Units) GPUs and develop foundational AI models with more than 100 billion parameters.
Models will be trained on datasets that cover major Indian languages, focusing on sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and governance.
Current Focus: Initial steps involve procuring 300 to 500 GPUs to initiate the project.
Importance of GPU Procurement:
GPUs are essential for training and developing large-scale AI models and are critical for advanced AI applications.
They support parallel operations, media analytics, and 3D rendering, making them vital for machine learning, modeling, and cloud gaming.
This procurement will address the computing power gap for Indian startups.
Key Components of the Mission:
IndiaAI Compute Capacity:
Build a high-end AI computing ecosystem with over 10,000 GPUs.
Develop an AI marketplace for resources to support startups and research.
IndiaAI Innovation Centre:
Focus on developing indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) (large language models like ChatGPT) and foundational models for various sectors.
Approximately Rs 2,000 crore allocated for this center.
IndiaAI Datasets Platform:
Create a unified platform offering seamless access to quality non-personal datasets for startups and researchers.
IndiaAI Application Development Initiative:
Promote AI applications to address problems in government sectors, aiming for large-scale socio-economic transformation.
IndiaAI FutureSkills:
Expand AI education through undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. programs.
Establish Data and AI Labs in smaller cities.
IndiaAI Startup Financing:
Streamline funding access for deep-tech AI startups.
Approximately Rs 2,000 crore allocated to support innovative projects at different growth stages.
Safe & Trusted AI:
Develop guidelines and frameworks for responsible AI practices.
Create indigenous tools for project assessment and ensure ethical standards in AI development.
India's Artificial Intelligence Market
Focus on Data Analytics:
The importance of AI-driven data analytics is highlighted by Clive Humby's statement, "data is the new oil."
Companies are using AI analytics to gain insights, enhance operations, and foster innovation.
Initiatives like the AI for All program by NASSCOM support this trend.
Adoption Across Sectors:
AI adoption is increasing across various sectors in India, driven by the National AI Strategy and National AI Portal initiatives by the Government of India.
Key sectors include healthcare, finance, retail, manufacturing, and agriculture.
Government Initiatives:
Programs such as Digital India, Make in India, Smart Cities Mission, GI Cloud (MeghRaj), and the Global INDIAai Summit are accelerating AI adoption across various sectors.
Research and Development:
Indian institutions like IITs, ISI, and IISc are heavily involved in AI research and development, contributing significantly to global AI knowledge.
AI Clusters:
Emerging Cities:
Major Indian cities are developing into AI clusters due to supportive policies, strong research institutions, and growing demand for AI technologies.
Key cities include Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, and the National Capital Region (NCR).
Bengaluru:
Known as the "Silicon Valley of India," Bengaluru has a thriving ecosystem of multinationals, startups, and academic institutions.
The city hosts over 2,000 active startups and generates annual IT exports exceeding USD 50 billion.
Bengaluru is a hub for AI research, filing over 400 patents annually.
Investing in AI-powered precision farming and crop monitoring can significantly enhance productivity. AI solutions for fraud detection, risk assessment, and customer service automation present opportunities for collaboration with Indian banks. AI offers potential in predictive diagnostics, personalized treatment, and drug discovery. AI technologies such as recommendation engines and chatbots are transforming the retail sector, offering new opportunities for investment.
