Government selects Indian AI company Sarvam to develop nation’s first sovereign Large Language Model

As part of the IndiaAI Mission, the Government of India has selected Sarvam, an Indian artificial intelligence company, to build the country’s sovereign Large Language Model (LLM). This first-of-its-kind project aims to create an indigenous foundational AI model that is fluent in Indian languages, capable of reasoning, and optimized for population-scale deployment.
The initiative is a significant leap toward Atmanirbhar Bharat, as the model will be developed and deployed entirely in India using local infrastructure. Sarvam’s research and expertise in creating AI solutions for Indian languages have positioned it as a key player in this effort. The project aims to foster strategic autonomy, boost domestic innovation, and secure India’s leadership in the global AI landscape.

Highlighting the importance of this development, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, expressed confidence in Sarvam’s ability to produce models competitive with global benchmarks. Dr. Vivek Raghavan, Co-founder of Sarvam, emphasized the initiative’s significance in building critical national AI infrastructure, stating that the goal is to create multi-modal, scalable models that serve both citizens and enterprises while keeping data within Indian borders.
Sarvam plans to develop three model variants:

To achieve this, Sarvam is collaborating with AI4Bharat at IIT Madras.