Nvidia has deepened its commitment to India's rapidly growing artificial intelligence sector, announcing major partnerships with prominent Indian companies such as Reliance Industries and unveiling a Hindi-specific AI model during its AI Summit in Mumbai on October 24. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang underscored the company's investment in India's AI infrastructure at the event, joined by Bollywood star Akshay Kumar and Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, which highlighted the significance of this AI expansion for India.
Nvidia's Strategic Push in India
The partnership between Nvidia and Reliance Industries aims to establish a robust AI infrastructure in India. Huang noted that Nvidia is also collaborating with Yotta and Tata Communications to further strengthen India's computing foundation, signalling a substantial increase in AI capabilities across the country.
"India used to be a country that produced software. In the future, India is going to export AI," Huang said, referring to Nvidia's vision of India's AI industry reaching global markets. He added, "In just one year's time, by the end of this year, we will have nearly 20 times more compute here in India than just a little over a year ago." According to reports from Business Standard, Nvidia aims to substantially enhance India's AI computing capabilities by the end of 2024.
A Hindi-Specific AI Model
One of the most notable announcements was the launch of a lightweight AI language model tailored specifically for Hindi, called Nemotron-4-Mini-Hindi 4B. As Business Standard reports, this model is Nvidia's response to India's linguistic diversity and demand for AI tools that can handle local languages. Indian tech leader Tech Mahindra is also leveraging Nvidia's AI technology to launch its own Hindi AI model, dubbed Indus 2.0, through a collaboration with Nvidia's NeMo platform.
In a blog post, Nvidia's managing director for South Asia, Vishal Dhupar, stated, "Indus 2.0 harnesses Tech Mahindra's high-quality fine-tuning data to further boost model accuracy, unlocking opportunities for clients in banking, education, healthcare, and other industries to deliver localised services."
Indian Companies Adopting Nvidia's AI Technologies
Various Indian companies are adopting Nvidia's tools to enhance their AI operations:
1. Flipkart - Walmart-owned Flipkart is deploying NeMo Guardrails, Nvidia's open-source toolkit, to enhance the safety of its conversational AI systems.
2. Krutrim - A subsidiary of the Ola Group, Krutrim is using Nvidia's Mistral NeMo 12B to build a multilingual Indic language model.
3. Zoho Corporation - The global technology company is working with Nvidia's TensorRT-LLM and Triton Inference Server to enhance language model performance for over 100 applications, benefiting its large customer base.
Huang also revealed plans to train nearly 500,000 developers with top Indian IT firms such as Infosys, Wipro, and TCS, empowering them to develop AI agents and solutions using Nvidia's software. According to Business Standard, this training push aligns with Nvidia's strategy to democratise AI across India.
India's Ambitions in the Semiconductor Space
With Nvidia's growth in established markets slowing, the company has increased its focus on emerging markets like India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has actively pursued foreign tech investments to strengthen India's semiconductor industry, aligning with his goal to position India as a developed economy by 2047. Modi's vision includes advancing India's electronics sector from $155 billion to a projected $500 billion by 2030, a significant leap intended to reduce reliance on imports and build a self-sustained technology ecosystem.
During the summit, Huang commented on India's pivotal role in the global tech landscape, stating, "India is very, very dear to the world's computer industry, central to the IT industry." Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, present at the event, illustrated Jio's commitment to building extensive AI infrastructure in India, aiming to tap into data generated by nearly a billion internet users.
The Future of AI in India
Reliance Jio, which has rapidly risen to become India's largest telecom operator, is spearheading AI expansion across various sectors. Neil Shah, a partner at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC, "Jio aims to build large-scale AI infrastructure to democratise AI, leveraging data emanating from almost a billion internet users in the next few years." Shah added that Jio's planned investments unlock significant opportunities for Nvidia and other tech companies, setting the stage for India's AI-driven future.
Nvidia's investments and partnerships signify a monumental shift in India's technological landscape. As the country bolsters its AI infrastructure and language capabilities, India is positioned to become a key player in the global AI arena, with companies like Reliance and Nvidia driving its AI growth.
