Government Approves Rs 10,372 Crore for 'India AI Mission' for 5 years

The Union Cabinet has approved an outlay of Rs 10,372 crore for the India AI Mission for five years on March 7, 2024. It aims to promote innovation in artificial intelligence through public-private partnerships.

• The money will be used to build a high-level scalable AI ecosystem in a public-private partnership mode.
• This mission will be implemented through the India AI Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC).

Establishment of India AI Innovation Center (IAIC):

• An India AI Innovation Center (IAIC) will be set up under the mission. IAIC aims to excel in academia by efficiently implementing initiatives and retaining top research talent.

Providing supercomputing capacity with GPUs:

• The India AI Mission will provide supercomputing capacity with more than 10,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to various stakeholders to build an AI ecosystem.
• Various institutions in the country will be provided access to the AI supercomputing infrastructure set up under the India AI Mission, which includes startups, academia, researchers and industry.
• Additionally, an AI marketplace will be created to offer AI services and pre-trained models to innovators.
• Of the total outlay, about Rs 4,500 crore will be used to create computing infrastructure. About Rs 2,000 crore has been earmarked for funding deep-tech startups.

Aim of India AI Mission:

• The India AI Mission aims to develop predictive models with a capacity of more than 100 billion parameters.
• These models will prioritize training on datasets covering major Indian languages for key sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and governance.
• AI Curation Units (ACUs) will also be developed in 50 ministries.

Incentive to Startup Funding Mechanism:

• This mission will strengthen India's AI startup funding mechanism.
• It will facilitate streamlined access to funding for emerging AI startups.
• Product development will enhance commercialization.
• A National Data Management Office will also be established under the mission. This will improve the quality of data. It will also coordinate with various government departments and ministries to make them available for AI development and deployment.

AI Startups will be further empowered:

• Today is a historic day for technology and innovation. The Cabinet’s approval for the Indian AI Mission will further empower AI startups.
• This will expand access to computing infrastructure which will be a huge leap towards becoming a global leader in AI innovation.