IndiaAI Mission Records 18,000 GPU Bids in Second Tender Round

The IndiaAI Mission, led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is progressing with 18,000 GPU bids received in its second tender round, according to IndiaAI Chief Executive Officer Abhishek Singh.

Following evaluations, 15,000 GPUs are expected to be procured, significantly boosting India’s AI compute infrastructure.

Seven tech firms, including Netmagic (NTT GDC India), Cyfuture, and Yotta, have been shortlisted to present technical proposals. Several maintain global cloud partnerships, such as with AWS, Oracle, and Google Cloud.

This builds on the 14,517 GPUs offered in the first round, bringing the total to 29,000 GPUs.

In the first round of the GPU tender, major industry players like Jio Platforms and Tata Communications participated, offering hardware based on Nvidia’s H100 and L40S series.

In the ongoing second round, companies have submitted proposals featuring Nvidia’s latest Blackwell B200 GPUs for evaluation.

A third round of empanelment is already underway, with firms such as ESDS Software Solutions expressing intent to participate using advanced models like Nvidia’s B200 and B300 GPUs.

Launched in January with a ₹10,372 crore investment, the IndiaAI Mission aims to foster AI innovation through a public-private partnership model.

It supports startups, academia, and research through initiatives like IndiaAI Compute Capacity and local LLM development.

Interest remains high, with over 30,000 GPU requests and 230 LLM proposals submitted, reinforcing India’s vision as a global AI leader.

Recently, the centre selected Bengaluru-based startup Sarvam AI to build India's first Large Language Model (LLM). The startup will receive support equivalent to ₹220 crore, primarily in the form of free access to around 4,000 Nvidia H100 chips for six months.