India Launches Three Indigenous AI Foundation Models Under IndiaAI Mission
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Event | Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) launched three indigenous AI foundation models on 3 November 2026. |
| Models Launched | EKA-1 (by Soket Labs), Dhīr 2B & Dhīr 5B (by ZenteiQ AiTech). |
| EKA-1 Details | - 26.3 billion parameters, trained on 7.5 trillion tokens. - Supports all 22 scheduled Indian languages + English. - Focus: BFSI, Cybersecurity, Mathematics, Coding, Reasoning, Agentic AI. - Open-source sparse hybrid model. |
| Dhīr Models Details | - Lightweight, secure, multilingual (English + 10 Indian languages). - Offline/on-premise use in Defense, Government, Industry, Education. - Compatible with GPU/TPU. |
| Developers | - EKA-1: Soket Labs Technology and Research Private Limited. - Dhīr Models: ZenteiQ AiTech Innovations. |
| Launch Event | Held in New Delhi, attended by S. Krishnan (MeitY Secretary) and IndiaAI officials. |
| Initiative | Part of IndiaAI Mission's Innovation Center (Foundation Models) pillar, with subsidized AI computing infrastructure. |
| IndiaAI Mission | - Approved by Union Cabinet on 7 March 2024. - Budget: ₹10,371.92 crore (5 years). - Aims to boost domestic AI, computing infrastructure, datasets, startups, and responsible AI. |
| Key Objective | Develop AI systems in Indian languages and enhance local AI capabilities. |