Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Railways, and Information & Broadcasting, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw marked a major milestone in India’s AI journey with the launch of several key initiatives under the IndiaAI Mission during its anniversary celebration in New Delhi today.

The newly introduced initiatives include AIKosha: IndiaAI Datasets Platform, the AI Compute Portal, the AI Competency Framework for Public Sector Officials, iGOT-AI Mission Karmayogi, the IndiaAI Startups Global Acceleration Program with Station F, the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative and IndiaAI FutureSkills all aimed at strengthening AI-driven research, innovation, and skill development.
 

While speaking at the event in New Delhi, Union Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasized that the launch of AIKosha: IndiaAI Datasets Platform and the AI Compute Portal marks a major milestone in enabling AI research and innovation in India. He highlighted that the AI Compute Portal will initially provide access to 10,000 GPUs, with 8,693 more to be added, offering AI compute services at a highly subsidized rate to support startups, researchers, and enterprises. He also noted India’s remarkable progress in global AI rankings, securing Rank 1 in AI skill penetration and being recognized among the Top 10 AI nations.

He further stressed India’s DPI framework for AI, which ensures ethically sourced, consent-based datasets, reducing reliance on synthetic and foreign data. Speaking on AIKosha, he highlighted that the platform hosts over 300  datasets and over 80 models, fostering the development of diverse and unbiased AI solutions. Shri Vaishnaw also underscored the role of AI in governance and capacity building, mentioning the iGOT-AI Mission Karmayogi, which integrates AI-driven learning recommendations for public officials.

✨ Launched - AI Kosha

A platform for India’s talented researchers, entrepreneurs and Startups providing them the right compute, datasets, tools and secure sandbox environment to build state-of-the-art AI applications and solutions.

Explore it as https://t.co/BhrA2fQCjw pic.twitter.com/4x6C0mdVwJ

— Ministry of Electronics & IT (@GoI_MeitY) March 6, 2025

Speaking on this occasion, MeitY Secretary Shri S. Krishnan emphasized that the launch of the AI Compute Portal is set to revolutionize AI deployment across the country. He highlighted that this portal represents the largest component of the IndiaAI Mission, with nearly 45% of the mission’s funding allocated to it. He further noted that AI is a cross-cutting technology that can enhance productivity and prosperity across government, corporate, and social sectors. Shri Krishnan stressed that leveraging AI is essential to realizing the Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, requiring a technological leap to drive economic growth. Addressing comparisons with global AI investments, he pointed out that India’s Rs, 10,372 crore AI Mission is a structured, government-led initiative with seven clear verticals to ensure nationwide AI adoption.

The IndiaAI Mission, approved in March 2024, is a landmark initiative dedicated to fortifying India’s AI ecosystem through strategic programs and partnerships spanning both public and private sectors. With a vision to democratize AI access, enhance data quality, cultivate indigenous AI capabilities, and ensure ethical AI practices, the Mission is structured around seven core pillars:

●       IndiaAI Compute

●       IndiaAI Datasets Platform

●       IndiaAI Application Development Initiatives

●       IndiaAI FutureSkills

●       IndiaAI Innovation Center

●       IndiaAI Startup Financing

●       Safe & Trusted AI

Last month, Union Minister, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, launched several initiatives under the aforementioned pillars. These included a call for proposals for developing and deploying indigenous foundation models which garnered 67 submissions within just 15 days—the establishment of an AI Safety Institute for adoption of a techno-legal approach, and the announcement of eight selected projects under the Safe & Trusted AI pillar.

Applauding the series of new ground-breaking developments by IndiaAI Mission, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw said "Prime Minister Shri Modi’s last 10 years of efforts are culminating in unexpected growth for India. His vision and investments in technologies such as AI, semiconductors, and deep tech will propel India among the top 5 countries. Our Prime Minister’s vision has always been to democratize tech—imagine DPI enhanced by AI." These initiatives will serve as a pivotal enabler for AI research, innovation, and application development in India, fostering an inclusive and responsible AI ecosystem.

Launch of AIKosha: IndiaAI Datasets Platform

To provide a unified portal for seamless access to datasets, tools and AI models, Hon’ble Union Minister has launched AIKosha: IndiaAI Datasets Platform. AIKosha is a secured platform that provides a repository of datasets, models and use cases to enable AI innovation. It also features AI sandbox capabilities through an integrated development environment along with tools and tutorials. The platform is equipped with the features like content discoverability, AI readiness scoring of datasets, permission based access & security mechanisms like data encryption at rest and in motion, secure API, and firewalls for real-time filtering of malicious traffic.

Launch of IndiaAI Compute Portal

IndiaAI had published a Request for Empanelment (RFE) inviting applications for the empanelment of AI services on the cloud. A competitive bidding process saw the participation of 19 bidders, offering diverse AI services, including GPUs and AI platforms. Following a rigorous technical evaluation, 10 bidders were shortlisted for the commercial bid opening. To ensure equitable access to computational resources, Hon’ble Union Minister has launched the IndiaAI Compute Portal that will offer AI compute, network, storage, platform and cloud services at discounted rates to startups, MSMEs, academia, researchers, PhD scholars, students, startups and government agencies. The portal will facilitate easy access to high end and mid range GPUs such as NVIDIA H100, H200, A100, L40S, and L4, AMD MI300x and 325X, Intel Gaudi 2, AWS Tranium and Inferentia along with network and storage services, ensuring cost-effective AI development capabilities and innovation. Eligible AI users will receive up to 40% subsidy on AI compute services on cloud. RFE for Inviting Applications for Continuous Empanelment of Agencies for providing AI services on Cloud is live.

AI Competency Framework for Public Sector Officials

Recognizing the critical role of AI in governance the AI Competency Framework was released at the event. The competency framework aims to equip public sector officials with skills related to AI competency mapping, and upskilling initiatives. This framework aligns with global best practices to ensure informed AI policy-making and implementation.

iGOT-AI: AI-Powered Personalized Learning for Government Officials

An advanced AI-powered personalized content recommendation system, developed to enhance the learning experience for government officials on the iGOT Karmayogi platform.

IndiaAI Startups Global Acceleration Program with Station F

In collaboration with STATION F and HEC Paris, the IndiaAI Mission will launch an acceleration program for Indian AI startups. This four-month immersive program (1 month online, 3 months onsite at STATION F in Paris) at the world’s largest startup campus will provide 10 selected AI startups with access to mentorship, networking, and global market expansion opportunities in Europe. A call for applications has been announced at the event.

IndiaAI Innovation Challenge: Felicitation of AI Innovators

The IndiaAI Application Development Initiative (IADI) pillar under the IndiaAI Mission focuses on developing, scaling, and promoting the adoption of impactful AI solutions with the potential for large-scale socio-economic transformation. Under this pillar IndiaAI has launched the IndiaAI innovation challenge which seeks to promote impactful AI solutions in critical sectors, over 900 AI solutions were submitted to address pressing challenges in Healthcare, Climate Change & Disaster Management, Governance, Agriculture, and Learning Disabilities. These solutions aim to improve healthcare outcomes, enhance access to public services, boost agricultural productivity, support individuals with learning disabilities, and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Following a rigorous evaluation process, 30 AI solutions have been shortlisted for the next stage across three stages of maturity: Idea, Prototype, and Existing Solutions.

IndiaAI FutureSkills Fellowship: Introducing the IndiaAI Fellowship Student

The IndiaAI FutureSkills initiative is conceptualized to mitigate barriers to entry into AI programs and will increase AI courses in undergraduate, masters-level, and Ph.D. programs. IndiaAI Fellowship students were introduced who  demonstrated their skills in AI Projects and shared their experiences how IndiaAI Fellowship has supported them in AI research. IndiaAI is disbursing tranches of the IndiaAI Fellowship, UG students PG students from various centrally funded institutes, including IITs, NITs, IIITs, as well as other government and private academic institutes.

🏆Congratulations🏆

Kudos to all the teams who have made it to the 30 shortlisted ones for the next stage of IndiaAI Innovation Challenge. Your hard work is setting new benchmarks in AI innovation!#DigitalIndia #AIForGood @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AshwiniVaishnaw @JitinPrasada pic.twitter.com/crf9MCMcJQ

— Ministry of Electronics & IT (@GoI_MeitY) March 6, 2025

Additionally, IndiaAI Data Labs are being established in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India to impart foundational level courses. IndiaAI has developed two courses for the roles of Data Annotator and Data Curator, focusing on sectors such as healthcare, education, manufacturing, and agriculture to be imparted in IndiaAI Data Labs across NIELIT and ITI centres.

The Launch of AIKosha, AI Compute Portal and other IndiaAI initiatives signifies a major step in democratizing AI access, enabling research-driven innovation, and strengthening India’s global AI leadership. The event brought together key stakeholders from the AI ecosystem, including government officials, researchers, industry leaders, and startups, fostering collaboration to build a robust AI-powered future for India.

Click Here to see List of team selected for next stage of IndiaAI Innovation challenge & IndiaAI Fellowship students felicitated at the launch event

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Dharmendra Tewari/ Navin Sreejith/ Shatrunjay Kumar