IndiaAI Mission Launches EKA-1 and Dhīr, India's Indigenous AI Foundation Models

India is stepping up efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by developing indigenous foundation models, strengthening computing infrastructure and supporting domestic startups through the IndiaAI Mission. The recent release of three homegrown AI models EKA-1, Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B marks another step towards building India's domestic AI ecosystem.

Approved by the Union Cabinet on March 7, 2024, with a financial outlay of ₹10,371.92 crore over five years, the IndiaAI Mission aims to make India a developer of advanced AI technologies rather than merely a consumer of international platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot.

Historically, India has depended on foreign AI companies because developing advanced models requires substantial investment, high-performance computing infrastructure, specialised chips, large datasets and skilled researchers. This dependence has raised concerns about data privacy, technology access, foreign control, economic dependence and limited understanding of India's regional languages and cultural contexts.

The mission addresses these challenges through seven pillars covering computing infrastructure, indigenous foundation models, datasets, application development, future skills, startup financing and safe and trusted AI. It provides subsidised access to GPUs, supports research and innovation, promotes AI education and encourages practical applications in agriculture, healthcare, education and governance.

Under its Innovation Centre initiative, Soket Labs Technology and Research developed EKA-1, which has 26.3 billion parameters, was trained on approximately 7.5 trillion tokens and supports all 22 scheduled Indian languages and English. ZenteiQ AiTech Innovations developed Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B, which support English and 10 Indian languages. These models offer offline capabilities and local deployment options, making them suitable for sensitive sectors such as defence, banking, government and education.

The mission also promotes AIKosh, a platform providing datasets and AI models to researchers, students and innovators. Government support through subsidised computing resources and research assistance has helped domestic companies overcome development barriers.