IndiaAI Mission: 20 Indian AI models backed, 5 released so far
What happened: At the launch of an Indian video-generation model called Varya in June 2026, MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan said the IndiaAI Mission had supported 20 foundation models, of which 5 had been publicly released. “India won’t be second to anybody in an effort of this nature,” he said.
Released models named in reports include:
- BharatGen, from IIT Bombay, a model that works with text and images in 22 Indian languages;
- Sarvam’s 105B language model;
- Varya from Avataar.ai, which turns your photos and raw videos into an edited video from a text description.
The computing power behind it: the mission offers more than 38,000 GPUs (the chips used to train AI) to Indian startups and researchers at subsidised rates of about ₹65 an hour, and expected to pass 40,000.
What is the IndiaAI Mission? A government programme with an outlay of over ₹10,000 crore, approved in March 2024, to build India’s own AI: computing power, datasets (on a platform called AIKosh), models, skills and startups.
Why it matters for you: Indian models are built for Indian languages and needs, from farming advice to government services. For students and job seekers, the mission is also creating demand for AI skills inside India.
The hype check: Varya’s speed and cost figures are company claims, and reports gave different numbers. Judge these models by trying them, not by launch-day promises.
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