# India's quantum computer

India's quantum computer is the proposed and planned quantum computer to be developed by 2026. A quantum computer is a computer based on quantum phenomena and governed by the principles of quantum mechanics in physics. In the present time, India has a small scale quantum computer of 7 qubits developed at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. In the next five years, it is expected that India will invest around one billion dollars in the programs related to the development of the quantum computer. The Government of India has launched an initiative called as National Quantum Mission to achieve the goal of the development of the India's quantum computer. India is one of the seven countries having dedicated National Quantum Mission to the development of quantum technologies in the country. The union defence minister Rajnath Singh emphasized on the development of quantum computing during the ceremony of 16th foundation day of Indian Institute Technology, Mandi.
   "The time to come is of quantum computing."

## History

India started its journey towards the development of quantum computer in 2018 by launching Quantum Enabled Science and Technology (QuEST) program. The QuEST program funded 51 national quantum labs with a budget of 250 crores Indian rupees to develop the required infrastructures for the development of quantum technologies in India. In 2020, the Government of India announced a budget of 8000 crore Indian rupees for the development of quantum technologies and its applications. In the same year, the government launched a National Mission on Quantum Technologies & Applications (NM-QTA) for a period of five years. The mission was to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) of the government. After the announcement of the mission, it delayed for four years with no further progress. On 19 April 2023, the government revised the budget to 6003.65 crore Indian rupees and launched National Quantum Mission for period from 2023-24 to 2030-31. Ajai Chowdhry, the co-founder of HCL was appointed as the chairman of the Mission Governing Board for the National Quantum Mission. After the announcement of the mission in 2023, India became the seventh country after US, Austria, Finland, France, Canada and China to have dedicated national mission for the development of quantum technologies. The National Quantum Mission in India is one of the nine missions for national importance under the Prime Minister's Science and Technology Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).

## Planning

According to Ajai Chowdhry, the chairman of the Mission Governing Body of the National Quantum Mission, India's first quantum computer will be of capacity to achieve computation of 6 qubits. It is expected to be built within the period of one year or few months.
The mission has planned to establish 20-50 qubits quantum computer in the next three years. And in the next five years, it is planned to build 50-100 qubits quantum computer. Similarly in the next ten years, the mission has planned to establish a quantum computer of capability to achieve computation of 50-1000 qubits.
The mission has further more plan to establish satellite-based secure quantum communications upto distances of 2,000 kilometres between ground stations within the country. Similarly it is also planned to enable long-distance secure quantum communications with other countries by both satellite and fibre-based. Apart from that it has planned to establish a multi-node quantum network to implement inter-city quantum key distribution(QKD) for covering distances of over 2,000 kilometres. There is also planning for development of atomic clocks and magnetometers for precision navigation.
The National Quantum Mission has established four Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) to propel research and innovation of quantum technologies in India to position the country in the race of global quantum technology. The Thematic Hubs have four verticals. They are quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum sensing & metrology and quantum materials & devices. The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore is made Thematic Hub for quantum computing and Indian Institute of Technology Madras is selected for quantum communication. Similarly Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi are made Thematic Hubs for quantum sensing & metrology and quantum materials & devices, respectively.

## Research and development

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) established a Quantum Computing Applications Lab to facilitate research and development related to quantum computing in the month of January in 2021. Similarly in the month of March, the Department of Science and Technology (Government of India) and 13 research groups from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) launched I-HUB Quantum Technology Foundation (I-HUB QTF) at Pune for the development of quantum technologies. On the 22nd day of the same month, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully demonstrated free-space Quantum Communication over a distance of 300 metre. A number of indigenous key technologies were developed to achieve it. It used the indigenous NAVIC receiver for time synchronization between the transmitter and receiver modules, and gimbal mechanism systems. A live videoconferencing was demonstrated using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link. It was demonstrated at the campus of Space Applications Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad. The demonstration was between the two line-of-sight buildings within the campus. It was conducted at night to prevent the interference of the direct sunlight in the demonstration. The experiment is considered as a major achievement of ISRO towards the goal of demonstrating Satellite Based Quantum Communication (SBQC). In the month of July, the Defense Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) collaborated to develop quantum computers in India. In the month of August, Quantum Computer Simulator (QSim) Toolkit was launched for academicians, industry professionals, students and the scientific community in India. It was launched to provide the environment for the development of quantum technologies and allow researchers to write and debug quantum code necessary for quantum algorithms in the country. In the month of October, the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) unveiled a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) solution to support more than 100 kilometers on standard optical fiber and launched a quantum communication lab. In the month of December, a quantum computing laboratory and an AI center was established by the Indian Army at its engineering college in the state of Madhya Pradesh which was backed by the National Security Council Secretariate (NSCS).
In April 2022, Indian scientists of DRDO and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi were successful in demonstrating a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link for more than 100 kilometers. The scientists used existing commercial-grade fiber-optic networks between Prayagraj and Vindhyachal in Uttar Pradesh for achieving the demonstration of the Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link. On 27 March 2023, the Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnava announced at India's first international quantum enclave that the country's first quantum computing based telecom network link is operational between the Sanchar Bhawan and the National Informatics Centre office at the CGO Complex in the national capital New Delhi.
According to professor R Vijayaraghavan of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai, the institute has demonstrated 3-qubit quantum computer based on superconducting qubits. On 28 August 2024, Indian scientists of DRDO Young Scientists Laboratory for Quantum Technologies (DYSL-QT) at Pune, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai completed end-to-end testing of 6-qubit quantum processor. It was based on superconducting circuit technology. A quantum computing device which uses 6 quantum bits (also known as qubits) for processing information is known as 6-qubit quantum processor. This project was completed by the collaborative efforts of the three organisations DYSL-QT, TIFR, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
The control and measurement apparatus for the quantum processor was developed by the team of DYSL-QT at Pune. It uses a combination of off-the-shelf electronics and custom-programmed development boards. Similarly a novel ring-resonator architecture was invented by the team of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at their campus. It was employed in designing and fabrication of the qubits. The contribution of the team of Tata Consultancy Services was in the development of the cloud-based interface for the quantum hardware. This successful testing of the 6-qubit quantum processor is considered as a significant milestone in the journey of quantum computing in India and positioned the country as a significant player in the race of global quantum technologies.
C-DAC is building a quantum computing center at its campus in Bangalore by the help of National Quantum Mission. It is called as Quantum Reference Facility. The project of the quantum reference facility has three components. These are importing components, assembling, and developing software and applications. It is expected that the quantum reference facility will be completed and fully operational in the next three years.
The Indian Institute of Technology Mandi is developing an indigenous room-temperature quantum computer at its Center for Quantum Science and Technologies (CQST) by the assistance of National Quantum Mission. The quantum computer will use photons for faster calculations. According to the official of the institute, it is expected that the room-temperature optical quantum computer will have "unique ability to analyse data and suggest solutions with 86 per cent accuracy without using traditional algorithms". Similarly "instead of CPU, the quantum computer will operate as a graphics processor (GPU) with a sophisticated user interface, quantum simulator and quantum processing capabilities in place".

## Startups companies

In the race of the development of quantum technologies, some startups companies in India are emerging to boost research and development projects of quantum computing in India. Bangalore based startup company QpiAI was founded in 2019 for advancements in quantum computing and generative AI technologies. It was founded by Nagendra Nagaraja who is presently the CEO of the company. The company has planned to establish a 25-qubit quantum computer at its headquarter in Bangalore very soon within this year.
Similarly another quantum computing startup company BosonQ Psi was also established in Bangalore. It is a simulation software company utilizing quantum computing. It was named after the famous Indian quantum physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and the fundamental quantity Psi. It is also onboard with the US-based IT company IBM's quantum networks.
The Government of India under its two flagship initiatives National Quantum Mission and National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems has selected eight major startups companies for innovation of advanced technologies in the areas of quantum computing, communication, sensing, and advanced materials. These eight major startups companies are QNu Labs (Bengaluru), QPiAI India Private Limited (Bengaluru), Dimira Technologies Private Limited (IIT Mumbai), Prenishq Private Limited (IIT Delhi), QuPrayog Private Limited (Pune), Quanastra Private Limited (Delhi), Pristine Diamonds Private Limited (Ahmedabad) and Quan2D Technologies Private Limited (Bengaluru).
The eight startups companies have been given responsibilities for the development of various range of technologies. The startup company QNu Labs represents to the development of quantum communication. It specializes in developing quantum-safe heterogeneous networks that offers secure communication solutions preventing cyber threats. Similarly QPiAI India Private Ltd represents to the development of superconducting quantum computing. It is building a superconducting quantum computer which will contribute towards development of scalable and high performance quantum systems.
The startups companies Dimira Technologies Private Limited and Prenishq Private Limited are working on essential hardware development for the quantum computer. Dimira Technologies Private Limited is developing indigenous cryogenic cables which is a critical component for maintaining the low-temperature environments required for the quantum hardware. Similarly Prenishq Private Limited is developing precision diode-laser systems. These precision diode-laser systems are essential part for quantum computing and sensing technologies. The startups companies QuPrayog Private Limited and Quanastra Private Limited are working on quantum sensing technologies. QuPrayog Private Limited is working on the innovations of optical atomic clocks and related quantum metrology technologies. These technologies have potential applications in healthcare and precise timekeeping. Quanastra Private Limited is working on the creation of advanced cryogenic systems and superconducting detectors to support quantum sensing and communication efforts.
The startups companies Pristine Diamonds Private Limited in Ahmedabad and Quan2D Technologies Private Limited in Bangalore are developing Quantum Materials and Photon Detection. The Pristine Diamonds Private Limited is working towards designing diamond-based materials for quantum sensing which is a promising avenue in quantum materials science. Similarly the Quan2D Technologies Private Limited is developing superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors to enhance quantum communication capabilities.