Empaneled Cloud GPU providers pledge support as MeitY unveils AI Compute Platform

The Ministry for Electronics and IT (MeitY) led by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw rolled out several initiatives under the IndiaAI Mission. It includes an AI compute platform and a dataset platform called AIKosha.

Minister Vaishnaw said that the AI Compute Portal will provide access to 10,000 GPUs, with 8,693 more to be added gradually. The portal will offer AI compute services at a highly subsidized rate to support startups, researchers, and enterprises, he added,

To be sure, MeitY floated a tender in August 2024 to establish AI cloud infrastructure equipped with at least 10,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). At the time, the tender attracted significant interest, with 19 companies submitting proposals. As per media reports, firms like Yotta Data Services, E2E Networks, Tata Communications, and AWS’s managed service providers are finalised for the first phase of GPU procurement. 

“India is at the cusp of an AI revolution, and the IndiaAI mission is a game-changer for accelerating innovation. At E2E Networks, we are proud to be empaneled as a provider of cloud GPUs, bringing cutting-edge AI compute infrastructure to researchers, startups, and enterprises across the country,” Tarun Dua, the founder of E2E Networks wrote in a LinkedIn post. 

“NxtGen is excited to serve the research & innovation opportunities for India. We will continue on our journey to provide fair pricing through SpeedCloud and invest even more advanced computing,” the company’s CEO AS Rajgopal said.

Yotta Dataservices announced its empanelment in February. It said that the company committed over 9,216 GPUs to the India AI Mission, including 8,192 Nvidia H100 GPUs and 1,024 L40S GPUs. These resources will be deployed in phases from Yotta’s NM1 data center. 

Overall, IndiaAI Mission’s compute 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.

However, industry experts sound caution around excessive dependency on imports of AI infrastructure and software.

“Due to the evolving global order and in a climate of highly fragmented AI standards around the world, it is imperative that India starts looking at lower dependency on imports of AI infrastructure and software. The majority of enterprise AI initiatives are using LLMs from global vendors or using Nvidia GPUs. Therefore, this excessive dependency on these aspects hinders the growth of our nation as well,” said Anushree Verma, Director Analyst at Gartner.

“Therefore, this initiative will foster more cutting-edge innovation in these areas to cater to the burgeoning demand. Globally, by 2028, 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI, up from less than 1% in 2024.”

Further, AIKosha, the dataset platform, is expected to streamline access to high-quality datasets. “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,” MeitY’s press note said.

Alongside AI Compute Platform and AIKosha, I 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.