Parliament Question: Dependence on Foreign AI Models

† O.I.H GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3966 TO BE ANSWERED ON: 12.08.2026 DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN AI MODELS †3966. SHRI DEVESH SHAKYA: SHRI NEERAJ MAURYA: SHRI LALJI VERMA: MRS RUCHI VIRA: Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that approximately Rs. 32,000 crore (USD 4 billion) is being paid annually in foreign exchange by the Indian companies, startups and consumers to American and other foreign Artificial Intelligence (AI) service providers for the use of foreign AI services; (b) if so, the logical reasons for allocating a limited amount of Rs. 1,000 crore for India AI Mission and Rs.4,741.51 crore for Digital India Programme in the Budget 2026-27 despite the increasing dependence on foreign AI models and cloud computing infrastructure; (c) whether the current allocation is sufficient to position India as a leader in the global AI race and compete with global AI giants such as Google, OpenAI, Nvidia etc. for the development of indigenous large language models and AI computing infrastructure; (d) whether the Government proposes to provide additional financial assistance or supplementary budgetary provision to develop indigenous large language models, AI computing infrastructure and research ecosystem at par with global AI companies; and (e) if so, the details of steps taken by the Government to develop indigenous AI solutions for youth, startups and industries of the country including Aonla Lok Sabha Constituency? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA) (a): India's AI strategy is based on the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision to democratize the use of technology. It aims to address India centric challenges and create economic and employment opportunities for all Indians. The government is cognizant of the risks associated with limited domestic capabilities in AI research ecosystems, and has adopted a multi-pronged and calibrated approach under the IndiaAI Mission to build technological sovereignty across the AI value chain. IndiaAI Mission The government approved the IndiaAI Mission on 7th March 2024 with a total outlay of Rs. 10,371.92 crore over five years. It aims to build a comprehensive indigenous AI ecosystem encompassing affordable AI compute infrastructure, indigenous foundation models, AI-readydatasets, AI applications, startup financing, talent development and safe & trusted AI. These initiatives are intended to promote the development and adoption of indigenous AI solutions, strengthen technological self-reliance, and progressively reduce dependence on foreign AI services. (b): The budgetary allocation under the IndiaAI Mission and Digital India Programme are being made in a phased manner, commensurate with the implementation schedule and requirements of various Mission/ Programme components. (c): India's AI strategy builds on India's vibrant IT sector with annual revenue of 300 billion dollars and 60 Lakh strong workforce. Under the IndiaAI Mission, the following steps have been taken towards development of indigenous large language models and AI computing infrastructure: Sovereign Models: 20 indigenous foundation model proposals, comprising 12 Large Multimodal Models and 8 Small Language Models, have been identified for support. Notable outputs already launched include: ● Sarvam AI (Sarvam 30B/105B, Indus) ● BharatGen (Param2 17B text, Patram 7B VLM, Shrutam-2 ASR) ● Gnani.AI (5B Speech to Speech) ● Varyaa (Image & Text to Video Generation) ● Avataar (Varya 14B Distilled Video-Gen) ● NeuroDX (MANAS 1 40M and 400M: neurological screening) ● Zenteiq (BrahmAI 1B Tokeniser Suite) ● Shodh AI (1.6B multi-scale physics prototype, Agentic Tool Calling framework) Compute: ● 15 Compute Service Providers have been empaneled over four rounds. ● 237 projects have been approved for subsidized compute support, with 93.18 lakh GPU hours sanctioned. ● A Purchase Order has been issued for a High-Performance AI Compute System of approximately 1.1 EFLOPS at the NIC Data Centre, Shastri Park, Delhi. Application Development: ● 11 National-level Hackathons/Innovation Challenges launched. ● 20 AI solutions deployed across public-sector institutions. Safe & Trusted AI: ● 13 projects addressing bias mitigation, machine unlearning, privacy preserving AI, algorithm auditing and explainability have been selected. (d): No proposal for additional financial assistance or supplementary budgetary provision beyond the approved outlay of the IndiaAI Mission has been formally approved or notified as on date. (e): The Government has taken the following steps to develop indigenous AI solutions for youth, startups and industries of the country: Center of Excellence:● 58 AI Centres of Excellence have been approved for establishment across States and Union Territories, of which 22 have been approved and initiated across 13 States/UTs to date. Talent development: ● 686 fellowships awarded across undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in 178 institutions. ● YUVA AI for All programme completed by over 26.5 lakh individuals. IndiaAI labs: ● 27 India Data and AI Labs established, supporting training for more than 3,500 students. ● 188 additional Labs have been identified for establishment across ITIs/Polytechnics. These measures are implemented on a pan-India basis under the IndiaAI Mission; benefits and outcomes under these schemes are not disaggregated at the level of individual Parliamentary Constituencies, including Aonla Lok Sabha Constituency. *******