Lok Sabha Question No. 3031 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Development of Indigenous AI Tools
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Murari Lal Meena

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION. NO. 3031

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 19.03.2025

## DEVELOPMENT OF INDIGENOUS AI TOOLS

## †3031. SHRI MURARI LAL MEENA:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  sensitive  data  of  our  country  can  reach  foreign servers with the use of ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools;
- (b) if so, the steps taken by the Government to prevent this potential data leak so far;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  is  working  towards  developing  indigenous  AI  tools  so  that sensitive data remains safe within the country;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  is  planning  to  develop  indigenous  email  and  search  engine services  considering  that  there  is  also  a  possibility  of  our  sensitive  data  reaching  foreign servers through foreign services like Google and Gmail; and
- (e) if so, the timeline by which these services are likely to be made available?

## ANSWER

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

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

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 and the need to create guardrails to ensure that AI issafe and trusted.

For Central Government and State Government projects where National Informatics Centre (NIC) is providing e-Governance Services, AI tools have been created in-house and have been made available through Application Programming Interface (API) services running on supercomputer facility in NIC's data centres. Hence for those projects sensitive data leakage does  not  take  place.  Further,  all  Government  communications  happen  on  secured  server through e-mail and e-office and all data is securely stored.

The IT  Act  and  the  IT  Rules,  2021  collectively  provide  a  framework for  removal  of harmful content and ensures that users over the internet are safeguarded from its perils which includes content that is artificially generated and patently false.

MeitY has issued advisories dated 26.12.2023, 15.03.2024 and 03.09.2024 (collectively  as 'Advisories'), through which the intermediaries were reminded about compliance with their due-diligence  obligations outlined  under  the Rule  3(1)(b)  of  the  IT  Rules,  2021 and advised on countering  unlawful  content including malicious 'synthetic media' and 'deepfakes' for better compliance to curb deepfakes and promptly remove harmful content online. The overall objective of these advisory is to empower users with adequate information so  that  they  make  informed  decisions  while  using  synthetic  media  tools.  These  Advisories among  other  things  advise  every  intermediary  and  platform  to  ensure  that  its  computer resource  in  itself  or  through  the  use  of  AI  model(s)/  LLM/  Generative  AI,  software(s)  or algorithm(s)  does  not  permit  any  bias  or  discrimination  or  threaten  the  integrity  of  the electoral process.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has taken following measures to enhance the cyber security posture:

- i. CERT-In issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities and  countermeasures  to  protect  computers,  mobile  phones, networks and data on an ongoing basis.
- ii. CERT-In has published an advisory in May 2023, on Security implications of AI language-based applications , highlighting how AI based applications can be used by threat actors to conduct various malicious activities and the safety measures that may be followed to minimize the adversarial threats arising from AI based applications.
- iii. CERT-In has issued an advisory in November 2023 to various Ministries outlining the measures to be taken for strengthening the cyber security by all entities that are  processing  the  digital  personal  data  or  information  including  sensitive  personal data or information.
- iv. CERT-In has issued guidelines on information security practices for  government entities  in  June  2023  covering  domains  such  as  data  security,  network  security, identity and access management, application security, third-party outsourcing, hardening procedures, security monitoring, incident management and security auditing.
- v. CERT-In has issued Guidelines for Secure Application Design, Development, and Implementation & Operations in  September 2023. CERT-In has also released the Software Bill  of  Materials  (SBOM)  guidelines  for  entities,  particularly  those  in  the public  sector,  government,  essential  services,  organizations  involved  in  software export  and  software  services  industry  in  October  2024.  SBOM  helps  organizations know exactly  what  components  are  in  their  software  or  assets,  making  it  easier  to identify and fix vulnerabilities.
- vi. CERT-In has empaneled 200 security auditing organizations to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- vii. CERT-In conducts regular training programmes for network and system administrators  and  Chief  Information  Security  Officers  of  government  and  critical sector  organizations  regarding  securing  information  technology  infrastructure  and mitigating cyber-attacks. A total of 12,014 officials have been trained in 23 training programs in 2024.
- viii. The Certified  Security  Professional  in  Artificial  Intelligence  (CSPAI)  program launched by CERT-In and SISA in September 2024. The certification in approved by the  ANSI  National  Accreditation  Board  (ANAB)  by  meeting  the  ISO/IEC  17024 standard. The program aims to address the growing need for Secure and Responsible AI integration into business applications and processes. The CSPAI program equips cybersecurity professionals with the skills to secure AI systems, proactively address AI-related threats, and ensure trustworthy AI deployment in business environments.
- ix. CERT-In  is  regularly  carrying  out  various  activities  for  awareness  and  citizen sensitization with respect to cyber-attacks and cyber frauds. CERT-In is observing the Cyber  Security  Awareness  Month  (NCSAM)  during  October  of  every  year,  Safer Internet  Day  on  1st  Week  Tuesday  of  February  Month  every  year,  Swachhta Pakhwada from 1 to 15 February of every year and Cyber JagrooktaDiwas (CJD) on 1st Wednesday of every month by organising various events and activities for citizens as  well  as  the  technical  cyber  community  in  India.  CERT-In  conducted  several awareness activities such as Quiz, webinars, Capture the Flag event in collaboration with  Government  and  industry  partners  during  NCSAM  2024  with  the  theme 'SatarkNagrik, Secure our World'.

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. The mission is driven by a vision to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence by focusing on seven foundational pillars.

IndiaAI on 30 th January, 2025 had launched a Call for Proposals inviting proposals from startups, researchers, and entrepreneurs to collaborate on building state-of-the-art foundational  AI  models  trained  on  Indian  datasets .  The  initiative  aims  to  establish indigenous AI models that align with  global standards while addressing unique challenges and opportunities within the Indian context.

In  the  first  month,  IndiaAI  Mission  has  received  a  total  of 67 proposals till February 15 aimed  at  building  India's  foundation  models,  with  contributions  from  both  established startups  and  new  teams  of  researchers  &  academia. 22  are  focused  on  Large  Language Models (LLMs) & Large Multimodal Models (LMMs), while the remaining 45 are centered on  domain-specific  models (SLMs).  The  majority  of  SLMs  target  key  sectors  such  as healthcare,  education,  and  financial  services.  Along  with  funding  support,  a  wide  range  of GPUs have been requested by teams submitting these proposals.

Under  IndiaAI  Application  Development  Initiative,  an  Innovation  Challenge  wasinviting participants  to  build  AI  solutions  under  five  critical  sectors/themes  including  healthcare, agriculture, governance, climate change and disaster management and assistive technologies for learning disabilities. A total of 900 applications have been received across the five focus areas by the deadline of 30 th September. Out these, the 30 shortlisted AI solutions under the identified sectors across three stages of maturity: Idea, Prototype, and Existing Solutions. The details of shortlisted AI solutions is given at Annexure I.

Further,  under  Safe  and  Trusted  Pillar  of  the  IndiaAI  Mission, 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 Annexure II.

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Annexure 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 | In-house developedMRV (Measurement, Reporting, and | Solution | Varaha ClimateAG Private Limited | Agriculture |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                                                                                 | Solution Description                                                                                                                                   | Stage    | Team Name                               | Theme       |
|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------|-----------------------------------------|-------------|
|          | sustainable future using AI                                                                          | Verification) technology designed to ensure the integrity and quality of generated carbon credits.                                                     |          |                                         |             |
| 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 ML models 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 |
| 7        | AI-Driven Live Fish Logistics and Mortality Reduction in                                             | AI-driven solution that optimizes aquaculture operations                                                                                               | Solution | Shuvoneel Ras System Pvt. Ltd.          | Agriculture |

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                    | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                         | Stage      | Team Name                                                       | Theme       |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------|
|        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  |

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                              | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                             | Stage     | Team Name                      | Theme      |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|--------------------------------|------------|
|       14 | NIDAAN (iNtegrated lung health screening& tuberculosIs Detection through Ai At National scale)    | qXR, an advanced AI tool for interpreting chest X-rays (CXR), detects &localizes 30+ findings.                                                                                                   | Solution  | Qure.ai Technologies Pvt. Ltd. | Healthcare |
|       15 | Impactful AI solution, preventing preventable blindness, for socio-economic                       | 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 |

|   Sl.No. | Name of the Solution                                                                | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                                        | Stage      | Team Name                                   | Theme                 |
|----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|---------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
|       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 nodes using AI/ML based algorithms | Prototype  | SIAMAF Healthcare                           | Healthcare            |
|       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                                                                                                                              | Idea       | Banyan Intelligence Private Limited         | Learning disabilities |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution                 | Solution Description                                                                                                                                                                                          | Stage      | Team Name                                | Theme      |
|----------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------|------------------------------------------|------------|
|          |                                      | support children with SLDs.                                                                                                                                                                                   |            |                                          |            |
| 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 |
| 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,                                                                     | Solution   | Civic Innovation Foundation              | Governance |

| Sl.No.   | Name of the Solution   | Solution Description        | Stage   | Team Name   | Theme   |
|----------|------------------------|-----------------------------|---------|-------------|---------|
|          |                        | scalable, and comprehensive |         |             |         |

## Annexure II

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

| NAMEOFTHE THEME                    | SELECTEDAPPLICANT                                                                 | TITLE OFTHEPROJECT                                                                                                                                                                |
|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 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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