In March 2025, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) launched several key initiatives under IndiaAI mission during the celebration of 1 year anniversary of IndiaAI mission held in New Delhi, Delhi.
- The newly launched initiatives are the AI Compute Portal, AIKosha: IndiaAI Datasets Platform, 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.
- These initiatives marks a significant step in democratizing AI access, enabling research-driven innovation, and bolstering India’s global AI leadership.
About IndiaAI Compute Portal:
i.The portal will offer AI compute, network storage, platform and cloud services at discounted rate i.e. at the rate of Rs 67 per hour, to startups, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), academia, researchers, students, startups, and government agencies.
ii.For the initial phase, the portal will provide easy access to 10,000 Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), and then gradually add 8,693 more GPUs on the platform.
- It will cover mid-range GPUs to high-end GPUs such as: NVIDIA H100, H200, A100, L40S, and L4, among others, ensuring cost-effective AI development capabilities and innovation.
iii.As per MeitY, eligible AI users will get up to 40% subsidy on AI compute services on cloud.
About AIKosha: IndiaAI Datasets Platform:
i.It is a secured platform that facilitates a repository of datasets, models and use cases to promote AI innovation. It is designed with the objective of providing seamless access to datasets, tools and AI models.
- The platform hosts more than 300 datasets and more than 80 models, promoting the development of diverse and unbiased AI solutions.
ii.The platform has AI sandbox capabilities through an integrated development environment along with tools and tutorials.
iii.It also incorporates some unique features like: content discoverability, AI readiness scoring of datasets, permission based access and security mechanisms .
About IndiaAI Innovation Challenge: Felicitation of AI Innovators:
i.IndiaAI has launched the ‘IndiaAI Innovation Challenge’ under its IndiaAI Application Development Initiative (IADI) pillar, which focuses on developing, enhancing, and promoting the adoption of impactful AI solutions with potential for large-scale socio-economic transformation.
ii.More than 900 AI solutions were submitted and 30 AI solutions have been shortlisted for the next stage across 3 stages of maturity: Idea, Prototype, and Existing Solutions.
Other Key Initiative launched:
i.Release of AI Competency Framework for Public Sector Officials: This framework aims to equip public sector officials with skills related to AI competency mapping, and upskilling initiatives.
ii.iGOT-AI: It is an advanced AI-powered personalized content recommendation system, aimed at enhancing the learning experience for government officials on the iGOT Karmayogi platform.
iii.IndiaAI Startups Global Acceleration Program: IndiaAI mission in collaboration with Paris (France)-based STATION F and HEC Paris, a business school based in Paris, will launch an acceleration program for AI startups in India.
- It will be a 4-month immersive program i.e. 1 month online and 3 month onsite at STATION F, world’s largest startup campus.
- It will provide 10 selected AI startups with access to mentorship, networking, and international market expansion opportunities in Europe.
iii.IndiaAI FutureSkills Fellowship: This initiative aims to reduce barriers to entry into AI programs and will increase AI courses in under-graduate, masters-level, and Doctor of Philosophy(Ph.D.) programs.
- In Addition to that, IndiaAI Data labs are being set up in tier-2 and tier-3 cities across India to impart foundational level courses.
- IndiaAI has curated two courses for the roles of Data Annotator and Data Curator, which primarily focuses on sectors like: healthcare, education, manufacturing, and agriculture to be imparted in IndiaAI Data labs across National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) centres.
About IndiaAI Mission:
i.On March 7 2024, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi approved IndiaAI mission with budget outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore (USD 1.25 billion) for over the next 5 years.
ii.It is being implemented by IndiaAI, an Independent Business Division (IBD) under the Digital India Corporation (DIC) of MeitY.
iii.It is based on 7 key pillars: IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI innovation centre, IndiaAI Datasets platform, IndiaAI application development initiative, IndiaAI future skills, IndiaAI startup financing, Safe and Trusted AI.
About Ministry of Electronic and IT (MeitY):
Union Minister- Ashwini Vaishnaw (Rajya Sabha – Odisha)
Minister of State (MoS)- Jitin Prasada(Constituency- Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
