Government Seeks Bids to Propel India AI Mission with Cloud-Based AI Services

The Indian government invites bids for providing cloud-based artificial intelligence services under the India AI mission, funded at Rs 10,372-crore. The initiative aims to offer high-speed computing infrastructure to various stakeholders. Empaneled agencies are required to provide these services at competitive rates through a transparent bidding process.

The Indian government has issued a call for bids to establish entities responsible for delivering artificial intelligence services on the cloud. This initiative is part of the Rs 10,372-crore India AI mission, approved by the cabinet in March this year.

The selected agencies, such as data centers and cloud service providers, will facilitate access to high-speed computing AI infrastructure. This includes graphics processing units (GPUs), accelerators, Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), and storage for academia, startups, researchers, and government bodies, at the most competitive rates found through the bidding process.

The IndiaAI Mission aims to create an AI ecosystem, offering supercomputing capabilities comprising over 10,000 GPUs to various stakeholders. According to MeitY's Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh, a Request for Empanelment (RFE) has been issued to realize this goal. The successful bid agencies will provide high-performance computing, network, and storage services, crucial for AI development, including indigenous LLMs and AI applications.

Service providers will be empaneled for 36 months, with potential extensions based on mutual agreements. While this invitation is not a procurement agreement, it seeks proposals from eligible and interested bidders. MeitY has set September 6 as the deadline for bid submissions.