India Will Provide the Cheapest Compute Facilities in the World at ₹67 Per GPU Hour: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched AI Kosha and the IndiaAI Compute Portal on March 6. These initiatives are part of the IndiaAI Mission to provide startups and researchers with access to datasets and high-performance computing resources for artificial intelligence development.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said 22 of the 67 proposals received under the IndiaAI Mission are for developing LLMs. 

“We are also going to set up 27 AI labs in tier 3 and 4 cities and will also inculcate AI education for higher secondary classes in the school education,” added Vaishnaw. 

AI Kosha is a non-personal dataset platform that will enable the development of  LLMs. It is a key component of the IndiaAI Datasets Platform, one of the seven pillars of the ₹10,738-crore IndiaAI Mission. Initially, the platform will host core datasets from government ministries, with plans to expand its dataset collection.

The IndiaAI Compute Portal will provide access to GPUs procured under the mission. Of the 18,693 GPUs allocated, 12,896 are NVIDIA  H100 GPUs, 1,480 are NVIDIA H200 GPUs, while the remaining units include AI chips from AMD, Intel, and AWS. The portal is designed to support AI startups and researchers requiring computational resources for model training and development.

“We are using public funds for enhancing compute facilities, while in many countries it is in the hands of private companies. Therefore, we provide the cheapest compute facilities in the world which is  Rs 67/GPU hour”, Vaishnaw said.

MeitY secretary S Krishnan said that 15,000 GPUs would be made available initially. He also highlighted that the AI compute component constitutes the largest portion of the mission’s budget, accounting for nearly 45% of the total funds allocated to the compute pillar.

The IndiaAI mission aims to provide 18,000+ GPUs through public-private partnerships with players like Jio Platforms, NxtGen Data Center, Locuz Enterprise, E2E Networks, CtrlS DataCenters, CMS Computers, Orient Technologies, Tata Communications, Vensysco, and Yotta Data Services.

The government is working with GPU providers to integrate API linkages, ensuring seamless connections between service providers and the portal. 

Krishnan mentioned that AI is a key factor in achieving the vision of a developed India by 2047. Additionally, MeitY introduced a competency framework for AI and public sector officials and launched the India AI Startups Global Acceleration Programme.

Abhishek Singh, additional secretary in the IT ministry, said, “The version of AI Kosha being launched today will initially include core data provided by ministries. Going forward, the dataset collection will be expanded.”

The IndiaAI Mission, launched on March 3, 2024, is focused on strengthening AI infrastructure and fostering innovation in India. By improving access to critical datasets and computational power, the government aims to support the development of India-specific AI models and address challenges such as AI bias.