Lok Sabha Question No. 4243 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-26
Subject: Deep Tech Startups
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri B K Parthasarathi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4243

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 26.03.2025

## DEEP TECH STARTUPS

## 4243.  SHRI B K PARTHASARATHI:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of deep tech start ups registered in the country, location-wise;
- (b)  the  total  number  of  deep  tech  start  ups  financed  under  the  Start  up  Financing  Pillar  of India AI Mission, location-wise;
- (c) the amount of funds sanctioned and released for the assisted start ups, start up-wise;
- (d)  the  details  regarding  the  type  of  interventions,  the  assisted  start  ups  are  seeking  to develop, start up-wise;
- (e) the number of industry-led AI projects approved under India AI Mission, location-wise; and (f) the type of social impact envisaged by the assisted industry-led projects, project-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (e): The Government of India has been supporting startups in all sectors with the launch of  Startup  India  Mission.  Under  the  mission  a  total  of 1,67,001 are  registered  with  the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of which 2,388 startups are registered as AI startups. The details are available at https://www.startupindia.gov.in/.

Under IndiaAI Mission, startups are being supported for building Foundation Models, AI Applications and Safe & Trusted tools .

## IndiaAI Applications Development Initiative:

- IndiaAI  Application  Development  Initiative  aims  to  develop,  scale,  and  promote  the adoption of impactful AI solutions to effectively tackle significant problem statements.
- IndiaAI  Innovation  challenge  was  launched  on  13th  August  2024  for  the  themes  of healthcare, agriculture, improved governance, climate change & disaster management and assistive  technologies  for  learning  disabilities.  The  Innovation  Challenge  was  open  to Indian  innovators,  startups,  non-profits,  students,  academic/R&D  organizations,  and companies. A total of 900 applications have been received across the five focus areas by the deadline of 30th September. Following a rigorous evaluation process, 30 AI solutions have been shortlisted for the next stage across three stages of maturity: Idea, Prototype, and Existing Solutions. The AI solutions at idea stage have been supported by Rs. 5 Lakh and the solutions at prototype & solution stage have been supported by Rs. 25 Lakh . The details of shortlisted AI solutions are given at Appendix I.
- CyberGuard  AI  Hackathon  was  launched  on  17th  October  2024  for  Cybercrime prevention in collaboration with the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and in response 263 responses have been received. Shortlisted 20 teams have participated in 3 days hackathon. Currently, top 3 teams are being evaluated.

- This pillar enables the implementation  of Responsible  AI projects including the development of indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment checklists for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks.
- Eight  Responsible  AI  Projects have  been  selected  to  address  the  need  for  robust guardrails  to  ensure  the  responsible  development,  deployment,  and  adoption  of  AI technologies. The projects cover a range of critical themes, including Machine Unlearning,  Synthetic  Data  Generation,  AI  Bias  Mitigation,  Ethical  AI  Frameworks, Privacy-Enhancing  Tools,  Explainable  AI,  AI  Governance  Testing,  and  Algorithm Auditing Tools. The details of the selected projects are given at Appendix II .
- Expressions of Interest have been invited for responsible AI projects in the themes such as  Watermarking &  Labelling, Ethical AI Frameworks, AI Risk Assessment  & Management,  Stress  Testing  Tools,  and  Deepfake  Detection  Tools  to  ensure  the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI technologies. A total of 420 proposals have been received.

## IndiaAI Innovation Centre:

- IndiaAI  Innovation  Centre  aims  to  develop  and  deploy  indigenous  Large  Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on India-specific data
- A Call for Proposals has been launched under this pillar to support the development of foundational AI models, inviting startups, researchers, and entrepreneurs to collaborate on creating state-of-the-art AI models using Indian datasets. This initiative aims to establish indigenous AI models, which can be Large Multimodal Models, Large Language Models (LLM), or  Small  Language  Models  (SLM),  to  address  India-specific  challenges  across various sectors. A total of 67 proposals aimed at building India's foundation models, with contributions  from  both  established  startups  and  new  teams  of  researchers  &  academia have been received till February 15.

In addition, the details of other pillars of IndiaAI Mission are as follows:

## IndiaAI Compute:

- IndiaAI compute pillar envisions building a high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem comprising  AI  compute  infrastructure  of  10,000  or  more  Graphics  Processing  Units (GPUs).
- Applications  were  invited  for  Empanelment  of  Agencies  for  providing  AI  services  on Cloud on 16th August 2024. The bid submission was closed on 28th November 2024 and 19 bidders have submitted bids in response to the request out of which 10 bidders were qualified for financial bid opening.
- Against the target of 10,000 GPUs outlined in the IndiaAI compute pillar, 14,461 GPUs are already installed and are available for immediate use.
- The  prices  quoted  by  the  bidders  are  highly  competitive  and  average  discount  from market  prices  for  all  GPUs  is  42  %.  Average  discount  from  market  prices  for  higher precision GPUs it is 47%. Average rate per GPU is ₹115.85/hour and Average rate per Higher precision GPU is ₹150/hour.
- To keep pace with the changes in technologies, IndiaAI enabled a continuous empanelment process inviting fresh proposals from the empaneled agencies for onboarding new GPUs and discovering any revised rates.

## IndiaAI FutureSkills:

- IndiaAI FutureSkills Pillar envisions to augment the number of graduates, post-graduate and PhDs in AI domain. Further, it envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India, to impart foundational-level courses in Data and AI.
- IndiaAI  Fellowships  are  awarded  to  students  pursuing  relevant  undergraduate  and postgraduate  programs  at  Private  or  Centrally  Funded  Technical  Institutes  (CFTIs) recognized by AICTE, NBA, NAAC, or UGC. So far, 150 undergraduate students, 48 postgraduate students, and 3 PhD scholars have been selected for the fellowship.
- A  model  IndiaAI  Data  Lab  in  the  National  Institute  of  Electronics  &  Information Technology (NIELIT's), Delhi has been set up, which acts as a reference point for the infrastructure to be set up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as a part of the initiative.
- All  the  36  States  and  Union  Territories  (UTs)  have  been  requested  to  submit  their nominated list of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)/Polytechnics located in Tier 2 and Tier  3  cities  for  setting  up  of  Data  Labs.  Additionally,  IndiaAI  in  collaboration  with NIELIT plans  to  establish  27  data  labs  in  Tier  2  and  Tier  3  cities  across  the  country, details of which are placed at Appendix III.

## IndiaAI Datasets Platform:

- The IndiaAI Datasets Platform (IDP) seeks to enhance access, quality, and utilization of public sector datasets to make them AI-ready. The IDP aims to function as a unified data platform, integrating datasets from all existing data platforms as well as onboarding nongovernment data contributors and providing new-age AI-centric features
- To provide a unified portal for seamless access to datasets, tools and AI models , AIKosh: IndiaAI  Datasets  Platform has  been  launched.  AIKosh  is  a  secured  platform  that provides a repository of datasets, models and use cases to enable AI innovation. It also features  AI  sandbox  capabilities  through  an  integrated  development  environment  along with  tools  and  tutorials.  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 realtime filtering of malicious traffic.
- At present the platform offers a comprehensive collection of resources for AI development, featuring over 300 datasets sourced from more than 10 entities across 12 sectors.  It  also  includes  more  than 150  AI  models provided  by  5  different  entities, alongside a library of over 5 use cases that demonstrate potential applications using the available  datasets  and  models.  Additionally,  the  platform  provides  over 10  toolkits comprising development utilities for project integration, as well as tutorials to help users understand and navigate its features.

## IndiaAI Startup Financing:

- IndiaAI Startup Financing pillar is to provide support to AI startups at all stages. Multiple rounds  of  stakeholder  consultations  have  been  held  to  deliberate  on  the  scheme  for supporting AI Startups at Pre-Seed, Seed and Growth stage.
- In collaboration with STATION F and HEC Paris, the IndiaAI Mission has launched an acceleration  program for  Indian  AI  startups.  This  four-month  immersive  program  (1 month  online,  3  months  onsite  at  STATION  F  in  Paris)  at  the  world's  largest  startup campus will provide 10 selected AI startups with access to mentorship, networking, and global market expansion opportunities in Europe. A total of 143 applications have been received from Indian startups for participation in the acceleration program.

********

## Appendix I

## The details of shortlisted AI solution under IndiaAI Application Development Initiative

## are as under:

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                                 | Solution Description                                                                                                                                   | Stage    | Team Name                               | Theme       |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------------------------------------|-------------|
|        1 | Promoting regenerative agriculture practices for a sustainable future using AI                       | In-house developed MRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification) technology designed to ensure the integrity and quality of generated carbon credits. | Solution | Varaha ClimateAG Private Limited        | Agriculture |
|        2 | Krishi Sah'AI'yak - Farming Co-pilot                                                                 | AI-powered conversational co- pilot to provide personalized advisory to farmers in Indic languages                                                     | Solution | Samagra Development Associates Pvt. Ltd | Agriculture |
|        3 | Kadalcompass - We Amplify the voice of water using Hydro- AI,Underwater com,IoUT with Sensor Network | 5G-enabled device that transforms fishing practices using AI, IoUT, and advanced communication technologies                                            | Solution | Innogle Technologies Pvt LTD            | Agriculture |
|        4 | KissanCopilot Multilingual Multimodal personalized AI Assistant for small holder farmers             | Powered by Dhenu's vertical LLM for agriculture, provides personalized agricultural advisory services to smallholder farmers.                          | Solution | Titodi Infotech Pvt Ltd                 | Agriculture |
|        5 | Rapid, chemical-free soil testing solution using NIR Spectroscopy& AI/ML models                      | End-to-end soil testing approach leverages an offline app, AI-powered spectral device, and MLmodels to deliver timely, chemical-free soil analysis.    | Solution | Neoperk Technologies                    | Agriculture |
|        6 | AI deep-tech driven quality assessment of Maize                                                      | SAAS platform to provide objective quality assessment of maize including price estimation& sales pipelining.                                           | Solution | RootsGoods (OPC) Pvt. Ltd.              | Agriculture |

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                   | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                         | Stage      | Team Name                                                       | Theme       |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|
|        7 | AI-Driven Live Fish Logistics and Mortality Reduction in Aquaculture                   | AI-driven solution that optimizes aquaculture operations                                                                                                                     | Solution   | Shuvoneel Ras System Pvt. Ltd.                                  | Agriculture |
|        8 | QScan                                                                                  | AI-powered IoT solution that captures critical data throughout the fresh produce lifecycle, providing real-time analysis of food quality and actionable insights to sellers. | ⁠Prototype | Qzense Labs Pvt Ltd                                             | Agriculture |
|        9 | Heatwave Resilience: Integrating AI-based Advanced Forecasting for Extreme Heat Events | Integrates AI-based climate forecasting with health data to develop a targeted risk classification system for heat- health impacts                                           | Idea       | I-Hub for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Innovation Foundation | Climate     |
|       10 | Multi-Hazard Susceptibility Mapping                                                    | hazard management system topredict Landslides, Debris Flows and Flash Floods                                                                                                 | ⁠Prototype | Jarbits Pvt Ltd                                                 | Climate     |
|       11 | DeepFlood: Rapid flood inundation mapping using Vision Transformers and Satellite Data | Advanced flood inundation mapping tool using SAR data and deep learning models for real- time, automated flood detection                                                     | ⁠Prototype | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi                            | Climate     |
|       12 | ⁠Moskeet: Climate impact on mosquito- borne diseases                                   | AI-powered platform integrates real-time climate data with mosquito tracking to predict and prevent disease outbreaks.                                                       | ⁠Prototype | Moskeet AI                                                      | Climate     |
|       13 | End to End AI Cloud Platform for Radiology Diagnosis                                   | AI cloud platform for radiology diagnosis, integrating innovative technologies such as CV, GenAI, NLP, Dicom, mobile, and cloud computing                                    | Solution   | Endimension Technology Pvt. Ltd.                                | Healthcare  |
|       14 | NIDAAN (iNtegrated lung health screening& tuberculosIs                                 | qXR, an advanced AI tool for interpreting chest X- rays (CXR), detects                                                                                                       | Solution   | Qure.ai Technologies Pvt. Ltd.                                  | Healthcare  |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                                              | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                             | Stage     | Team Name                     | Theme      |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|-------------------------------|------------|
|          | Detection through Ai At National scale)                                                           | &localizes 30+ findings.                                                                                                                                                                         |           |                               |            |
| 15       | Impactful AI solution, preventing preventable blindness, for socio- economic transformation.      | early detection of vision threatening retinal abnormalities                                                                                                                                      | Solution  | Artelus                       | Healthcare |
| 16       | AI Powered Wearable Technology for Detection & Diagnosis of Musculoskeletal Joint Health Pain.    | AI Enabled Hardware Platform for Joint Pain Diagnostics and Rehabilitation Segments of Healthcare                                                                                                | Solution  | Startoon Labs Private Limited | Healthcare |
| 17       | VoxelBox                                                                                          | Neuro-informatics platform that allows to map the functional maps / connectomics of the human brain                                                                                              | Prototype | BrainSight Technology Pvt Ltd | Healthcare |
| 18       | Development of Ocellux: An AI- Based Solution for Enhanced Early Diabetic Eye Screening in INDIA. | Portable, affordable and highly accessible retina imaging device powered by AI for early detection of eye diseases like Diabetic Retinopathy,AMD &Glaucoma                                       | Prototype | Anself Dynamics Pvt. Ltd.     | Healthcare |
| 19       | Revolutionizing healthcare using doctor-led AI                                                    | AI-powered personal doctor available 24x7 and free of cost, designed to assist people when they are sick, monitor their health through wearables, and act as a health coach to prevent diseases. | Prototype | Jivi Health Pvt. Ltd.         | Healthcare |
| 20       | AI/ML enabled MafPro device platform for cancer staging, localization, and margins.               | MafPro handheld detector provides a radiation-free, non- invasive, safe and cost-effective solution that can reliably detect and adequately evaluate metastases in lymph                         | Prototype | SIAMAF Healthcare             | Healthcare |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                               | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                    | Stage      | Team Name                                   | Theme                 |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
|          |                                                                                    | nodes using AI/ML based algorithms                                                                                                                                                      |            |                                             |                       |
| 21       | Readabled (Online Dyslexia Training)                                               | web-based application designed to help children with dyslexia improve phonetic awareness through interactive exercises.                                                                 | ⁠Existing  | Hermit Labs Pvt. Ltd.                       | Learning disabilities |
| 22       | Voice fusion AI                                                                    | AI application to provide assistive support to individuals with SLDs in multiple Indian languages                                                                                       | ⁠Prototype | PerpetualBlock Technologies Private Limited | Learning disabilities |
| 23       | ScreenPlay - a digital game based screening tool for autism and related disorders. | Digital, game-based screening tool designed to identify children aged 3 to 6 who may be at risk for autism or related developmental conditions                                          | ⁠Existing  | Kidaura Innovations Pvt Ltd                 | Learning disabilities |
| 24       | Jiveesha                                                                           | AI-powered diagnostic platform for early detection of SLDs                                                                                                                              | Idea       | Daira Edtech Private Limited                | Learning disabilities |
| 25       | Adaptive Learning and Detection for SLDs                                           | Advanced AI techniques to detect Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia.                                                                   | ⁠Prototype | Narottam Innovations Pvt. Ltd.              | Learning disabilities |
| 26       | Special Educator AI                                                                | AI-driven system designed to address India's shortage of special educators and support children with SLDs.                                                                              | Idea       | Banyan Intelligence Private Limited         | Learning disabilities |
| 27       | ConvoZen.AI by NoBroker Technologies                                               | AI-powered conversational platform that automates customer engagement across channels like chat, voice, email, and social media, offering fast, personalized, and multilingual support. | Solution   | Nobroker Technologies Solutions Pvt. Ltd    | Governance            |

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution               | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                                          | Stage      | Team Name                       | Theme      |
|----------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|---------------------------------|------------|
|       28 | AI contact center                  | AI-powered technologies like machine translation, NLP, ASR and TTS, and multilingual voice recognition to enhance governance by improving communication and accessibility across India's linguistic diversity | Solution   | Devnagri AI Pvt. Ltd            | Governance |
|       29 | Adalat AI: AI solutions for Courts | AI-powered platform provides real-time multilingual transcription, translation, live case flow management, and WhatsApp chatbots to streamline courtroom operations                                           | ⁠Prototype | Legsys.AI Technology Foundation | Governance |
|       30 | Gov.Civis.Vote                     | AI-powered Digital Public Infrastructure designed to transform public consultations in India by making citizen engagement more inclusive, scalable, and comprehensive                                         | Solution   | Civic Innovation Foundation     | Governance |

## APPENDIX II

## The details of the selected projects under 'Safe & Trusted AI' Pillar are as under:

| NAME OF THE THEME                  | SELECTED APPLICANT                                                                | TITLE OF THE PROJECT                                                                                                                                                              |
|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Machine Unlearning                 | IIT Jodhpur                                                                       | Machine Unlearning in Generative Foundation Models                                                                                                                                |
| Synthetic Data Generation          | IIT Roorkee                                                                       | Design and Development of Method for Generating Synthetic Data for Mitigating Bias in Datasets; and Framework for Mitigating Bias in Machine Learning Pipeline for Responsible AI |
| AI Bias Mitigation Strategy        | National Institute of Technology Raipur                                           | Development of Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Bias Mitigation in Health Care Systems                                                                                     |
| Explainable AI Framework           | DIAT Pune and Mindgraph Technology Pvt. Ltd.                                      | Enabling Explainable and Privacy Preserving AI for Security                                                                                                                       |
| Privacy Enhancing Strategy         | IIT Delhi, IIIT Delhi, IIT Dharwad and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) | Robust Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning Models                                                                                                                                 |
| AI Ethical Certification Framework | IIIT Delhi and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)                         | Tools for assessing fairness of AI model                                                                                                                                          |
| AI Algorithm Auditing Tool         | Civic Data Labs Pvt. Ltd.                                                         | ParakhAI - An open-source framework and toolkit for Participatory Algorithmic Auditing                                                                                            |
| AI Governance Testing Framework    | Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)         | Track-LLM, Transparency, Risk Assessment, Context & Knowledge for Large Language Models                                                                                           |

## List of Data & AI labs planned by IndiaAI in collaboration with NIELIT in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across the country:

|   S.No. | NIELIT Centre   | State/UT          |
|---------|-----------------|-------------------|
|       1 | Gorakhpur       | Uttar Pradesh     |
|       2 | Lucknow         | Uttar Pradesh     |
|       3 | Shimla          | Himachal Pradesh  |
|       4 | Aurangabad      | Maharashtra       |
|       5 | Patna           | Bihar             |
|       6 | Buxar           | Bihar             |
|       7 | Muzaffarpur     | Bihar             |
|       8 | Kurukshetra     | Haryana           |
|       9 | Ropar           | Punjab            |
|      10 | Haridwar        | Uttarakhand       |
|      11 | Bikaner         | Rajasthan         |
|      12 | Tezpur          | Assam             |
|      13 | Bhubaneswar     | Odisha            |
|      14 | Calicut         | Kerala            |
|      15 | Guwahati        | Assam             |
|      16 | Itanagar        | Arunachal Pradesh |
|      17 | Srinagar        | J&K               |
|      18 | Jammu           | J&K               |
|      19 | Ranchi          | Jharkhand         |
|      20 | Imphal          | Manipur           |
|      21 | Gangtok         | Sikkim            |
|      22 | Agartala        | Tripura           |
|      23 | Aizawl          | Mizoram           |
|      24 | Shillong        | Meghalaya         |
|      25 | Kohima          | Nagaland          |
|      26 | Leh             | Ladakh            |

| 27   | Silchar   | Assam   |
|------|-----------|---------|

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