India picks 8 firms, including IIT Bombay, to build a massive 1-trillion parametre AI model

By Admin

20 Sep, 2025

India’s artificial intelligence ambitions are taking a giant leap forward. The government has announced eight organisations, including IIT Bombay, Tech Mahindra, and Fractal Analytics, to develop foundational large language models (LLMs) under the IndiaAI Mission. The announcement was made by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi on September 18.

IIT Bombay Leads the Ambitious Project

The most ambitious of these projects is being spearheaded by IIT Bombay through its BharatGen consortium. Tasked with developing a trillion-parameter AI model, this initiative positions India among the global leaders in large-scale AI research. To facilitate this monumental effort, the IndiaAI Mission has approved financial assistance of Rs 988.6 crore.

In AI terminology, parameters are the internal variables a model learns to recognize patterns and relationships in data. A higher parameter count generally indicates a more sophisticated understanding of language. For India, a trillion-parameter model marks a historic milestone in building home-grown AI capabilities that can rival global AI leaders.

The Selected Organisations

The full list of selected entities includes:

• Avataar AI
  
  

• IIT Bombay Consortium – BharatGen
  
  

• Fractal Analytics Limited
  
  

• Tech Mahindra Ltd
  
  

• Zeinteiq Aitech Innovations
  
  

• Genloop Intelligence Pvt Ltd
  
  

• NeuroDX (Intellihealth)
  
  

• Shodh AI
  
  

Each organisation will contribute to developing foundational LLMs targeting diverse applications across sectors.

Tech Mahindra’s Recognition and Experience

Tech Mahindra, which has been working on its in-house Indic model, Project Indus, welcomed the recognition. The company stated it was “proud to be recognised” as part of the IndiaAI Mission, noting that Project Indus developed entirely in-house and at a frugal cost has been an enriching journey from open-source Indic LLMs to sovereign AI systems.

Building on Earlier Progress

This announcement builds on earlier rounds of the IndiaAI Mission. In May 2025, three startups SoketAI, Gnani.ai, and Gan AI were selected to create India’s first home-grown foundational AI models. A month earlier, four other startups, including Sarvam AI, were chosen to develop specialised AI systems. To empower these teams, the government has collaborated with cloud and data providers to expand GPU access, which is critical for training large-scale AI models.

Minister Vaishnaw highlighted the progress so far, stating, “The models that were selected earlier are progressing really well, and I am confident that by the time the AI Impact Summit gets underway in February 2026, India will have a model or models ready.”

Looking Ahead: AI Framework and Responsible Deployment

In the coming days, the government plans to unveil a comprehensive AI framework. Prepared jointly by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, this framework will provide clear guidelines for building and deploying AI systems responsibly in India.

With this bold step, India is not just participating in the global AI race but is actively shaping its home-grown AI ecosystem, aiming to balance innovation with ethical and responsible AI deployment.