Archive · 10 Aug 2026
BharatGen CEO Rishi Bal champions India's ground-up sovereign AI models
India has started its own big AI project called BharatGen, with help from the government.
BharatGen got more than Rs 900 crore to build smart computer programs that can understand language.
The boss of BharatGen, Rishi Bal, says India should build these programs itself instead of copying other countries' work.
He thinks building things from scratch helps you really understand how they work.
He says it is like building an aeroplane: buying engines from someone else is easier, but it does not make you competitive for long.
He also worries that free AI programs today might stop being free tomorrow.
Many people are already using BharatGen's programs, which have been downloaded two lakh times.
Schools, banks, and government offices use them to read documents and work faster.
Mr Bal says building AI in India is hard because prices must stay low, but he thinks costs will keep falling and smart tools will help.
BharatGen, India's first government-backed sovereign AI initiative led by IIT Bombay, has secured over Rs 900 crore in funding from MeitY.
CEO Rishi Bal argues India must build foundational AI models from the ground up to stay competitive long-term, rather than distilling open models like Kimi-K3.
BharatGen's AI models have been downloaded two lakh times on Hugging Face, with demand from enterprises, central and state governments, education, and BFSI.
The initiative currently focuses on niche domain-specific models and has no plans for a coding-specific model.
Bal highlighted supply security concerns, noting today's open models could become tomorrow's closed models, citing discussions on whether Chinese AI models should publish research.
- Who
- Rishi Bal, CEO of the non-profit BharatGen, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which provided over Rs 900 crore in funding.
- What
- BharatGen, India's first government-backed sovereign AI initiative, secured major funding, and its CEO explained why India should build AI foundational models from the ground up rather than distilling open models.
- When
- About a year after BharatGen was launched by the IIT Bombay-led consortium; Bal noted the journey started a couple of years ago.
- Where
- India, with engagement across central and state governments and sectors such as education and BFSI.
- Why
- To build genuine national AI capability, ensure supply security because open models could become closed, and make India competitive in AI over the long term.
Fast followers (distillation)
Ground-up builders
How to build national AI capability
Fast followers (distillation)
It is faster and cheaper to distil advanced open models like Kimi-K3, optimising for success within a six-month to one-year horizon.
Ground-up builders
Building models from the ground up is a structural, long-term investment that makes India genuinely competitive in AI over a five-year window and ensures real understanding of the technology.
Pricing in a price-sensitive market
Fast followers (distillation)
Attract users by offering sign-ups at subsidised prices in a cost-sensitive market like India.
Ground-up builders
Pricing must be built into business models from the start, because if subsidised prices are later hiked, users may not stay.
- Initiative
- BharatGen — India's first government-backed sovereign AI initiative
- Lead institution
- IIT Bombay-led consortium
- Funding
- Over Rs 900 crore from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
- CEO
- Rishi Bal (non-profit)
- Model downloads
- Two lakh (200,000) downloads on Hugging Face
- Sectors engaged
- Central and state governments, education, BFSI
- Current focus
- Niche domain-specific models; no coding-specific model planned
- Popular models
- Param-2 models and speech/voice AI models