After startups, Centre to subsidize AI chips for government bodies

New Delhi: The Centre is preparing to extend at-scale subsidized access to artificial intelligence (AI) chips beyond startups to government departments, research agencies and state-backed colleges, in a move aimed at accelerating the development of indigenous AI models and applications, according to three officials with direct knowledge of the matter and government documents reviewed by Mint. So far, small and early-stage trial access of graphics processing units (GPUs) to government bodies was already done over the past two years. The current move will mean that government bodies will now have usable, large-scale access to GPUs—with which they can actually build use cases for research, academia and public services. As part of the exercise, the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) has asked all ministries to estimate their future demand for AI GPUs—the computing chips used to train and run AI models. In a 4 June memorandum reviewed by Mint, Meity sought projections of GPU requirements from all ministries, which have in turn asked their departments and affiliated institutions to assess their needs. Another internal memorandum within the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), also reviewed by Mint, shows that the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) have been asked to submit their GPU requirements. Government-funded research bodies including Meity's Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Department of Science and Technology's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have also been asked to provide estimates. “Under the IndiaAI Mission, Meity is offering Compute as a Service (CaaS) to Central and State Government departments at reduced costs, supported by a subsidy of up to 40%. To properly plan adequate compute capacity, Meity has requested projections of compute requirements for various domain-specific applications and use cases. In view of the above, all divisions and attached offices within the Department of Telecommunications are requested to review their ongoing and upcoming projects to assess any requirement, if any, for AI compute resources,” the DoT memo said. The officials said Meity's objective is to provide subsidized compute to Centre-backed research institutions developing AI models and applications. “A key part of the India AI Mission is to build applications for public sector utilities, that the very onset of the Mission had already outlined. Access to GPUs, as well as models developed by public research bodies are all available through the ‘AI Kosh’ platform under the Mission, and Meity is now only setting in motion one of the key tenets of the project,” one of the officials said, requesting anonymity. The official added that Meity currently does not have a view on the exact amount of funds that would be required to give GPU access to government agencies, or a timeline for when the exercise would be completed. The official said the expansion will be funded under the current phase of the IndiaAI Mission. A second phase of the programme is not expected until the funds allocated for the first five-year mission are substantially utilized. Meity’s IndiaAI Mission, notified on 7 March 2024 with an outlay of ₹10,372 crore for five years, offered subsidized access to expensive GPUs, the specialized used to train and run AI models. Industry estimates show that as much as 60% of an AI company’s net expenditure budget goes towards procuring and operating GPUs. For FY25 and FY26, the finance ministry cumulatively allocated ₹2,551.75 crore to the AI Mission. Of this, the Mission has committed (not spent) ₹2,194 crore to 12 startups, including one non-profit entity, through GPU subsidies and cash grants. The spending so far has been ₹973 crore. For FY27, the finance ministry has allocated ₹1,000 crore to the AI Mission, which would be used for the subsidies to government departments and research institutes. “We can always ask for additional funds if we require it—the fund allocated to us is not a finite amount,” the official cited above said. Industry stakeholders have largely hailed the Centre’s common compute infrastructure approach to build AI models and applications in the country. S.D. Sudarsan, executive director at C-Dac Bengaluru, said that the Centre “has offered ample resources as far as any AI project is concerned, and all AI projects in question have progressed at par with set targets”. On 18 February, former AI Mission chief Abhishek Singh had told Mint in an interview that the course of the Mission through this year will be “actual deployment at population scale, for which we will look to create a market”. Currently, a government entity requiring access to GPUs under the India AI Mission needs a letter from its director, managing director or any other authorized officer, as per the eligibility guidelines on Meity’s India AI website. According to the IndiaAI dashboard, 47 startups and small businesses and 106 government entities—including the ministries of tribal affairs and corporate affairs, as well as several state police departments—are already using GPUs under the Mission.