Lok Sabha Question No. 2212 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-12
Subject: IndiaAI Mission in Tamil Nadu
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Thiru Dayanidhi Maran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2212

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 12.03.2025

## INDIAAI MISSION IN TAMIL NADU

## 2212. THIRU DAYANIDHI MARAN:

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

- (a) the amount of funds likely to be allocated out of the 2,000 crore sanctioned for IndiaAI Mission in 2025-26 to Tamil Nadu-based institutions, AI startups and research projects;
- (b) whether the Government has any plans or proposals to set up dedicated data centres to further the IndiaAI Mission;
- (c) if so, whether any of these data centres would be established in Tamil Nadu considering its strong IT infrastructure in Chennai, Coimbatore and Hosur;
- (d) the number of AI-related jobs which are expected to be created in the country under this mission;
- (e) whether there would be State-specific skilling programmes to prepare the workforce for AIdriven jobs through institutions and if so, the details thereof;
- (f) whether there are any State-specific targets under the IndiaAI Mission and proposals are being considered to develop investments in AI technology for Tamil Nadu's automobile and healthcare industries; and
- (g) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (g):IndiaAI  mission  is  being  implemented  as  a  National  project  and  the  funds approved under the program is utilised for creating AI infrastructure, Datasets platforms, tools and application for entire country including Tamil Nadu.  For AI infrastructure, India AI mission is not setting up DataCentres but is making affordable compute accessible to AI Start Ups, researches and entrepreneurs at a cost which is lower than global prices.  This is accessible to all users across the country.  Further details about the IndiaAI mission are as under :

The Government of India emphasizes the concept of 'AI for All,' aligning with the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision to democratise use of technology. This initiative aims to ensure that AI benefits all sectors of society, driving innovation and growth.

India  is  regarded  as  the  skills  capital  in  technology  and  Artificial  Intelligence.  The  most reliable  ranking  in  AI  is  placing  India  among  the  top  countries  with  AI  Skills,  AI capabilities,  and  policies  to  use  AI.  Stanford  University  has  ranked  India  among  the  top four  countries  along  with  the  US,  China,  and  the  UK  in  the  Global  and  National  AI vibrancy ranking based on 42 indicators. GitHub, which is community of developers has ranked India at the top with the global share of 24% of all projects.

Government is  committed  to  harnessing  the  power  of  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  for  the good of our people in sectors like healthcare, agriculture and education. At the same time, the Government is cognizant of the risks posed by AI.

Union  Cabinet  led  by  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister  has  approved  the  IndiaAI  Mission  on  7 th March 2024, a strategic initiative to establish a robust and inclusive AI ecosystem that aligns with the country's development goals. This mission is driven by a vision to position India as a  global  leader  in  artificial  intelligence  by  focusing  on  seven  foundational  pillars.  The IndiaAI  Mission  is  a  national  initiative  aimed  at  fostering  AI  growth  across  the  country including Tamil Nadu.

The Mission is being implemented by IndiaAI Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital  India  Corporation,  and  key  actions  undertaken  for  implementation  of  the  IndiaAI Mission are as below:

## 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,  technically qualified  bidders  have  submitted  18,693  GPUs  for  empanelment.  It  may  also  be  noted that 15120 of the proposed GPUs for empanelment include high precision GPUs.
-  Out  of  18,693  GPUs  offered,  14,461  GPUs  are  already  installed  on  the  bidder's infrastructure  and  are  available  for  immediate  use.  Additionally,  there  is  further  GPU capacity available with the bidders who were not technically qualified.
-  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 fellowship are being awarded annually to 400 B.Tech and 500 M.Tech students working  in  AI  domain  from  All  India  Council  for  Technical  Education  (AICTE) recognized  engineering  institutions. A  total  of  51  students  from  Tamil  Nadu,  38 B.Tech  students  from  9  academic  institutes,  and  13  M.Tech  students  from  2 academic institutes have been selected for the IndiaAI Fellowship .
-  Top 50 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked research institutes have been asked to take new PhD scholars under IndiaAI PhD 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 I.

## 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.

## 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.

## 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, AIKosha:  IndiaAI  Datasets  Platform.  AIKosha  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  real-time  filtering  of malicious traffic.

## 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.
-  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 and evaluation is underway to identify the winners.

## Safe & Trusted AI:

-  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.

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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             |

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                                                                   | 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                                                                                           |

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