India Unveils Roadmap for Homegrown AI: White Paper Focuses on Indigenous Foundation Models

New Delhi | 15 March 2026 The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Indian government has released a white paper titled “Advancing Indigenous Foundation Models”, presenting a roadmap for developing India’s own artificial intelligence models. The document is part of the ongoing AI Policy White Paper Series aimed at guiding the country’s long-term strategy in artificial intelligence and strengthening India’s position in the global AI ecosystem. The report highlights that building indigenous foundation models is a key priority for the country. These models are large AI systems trained on massive datasets such as text, images, audio and video. They can perform several tasks including translation, summarisation, question answering and text classification, making them an important foundation for modern AI technologies. According to the white paper, India plans to develop foundation models trained on datasets relevant to the country. This will help improve transparency, inclusivity and alignment with national priorities, while ensuring that AI systems follow India’s legal framework, cultural values and security interests. The document also underlines the importance of both large language models (LLMs) and small language models (SLMs). While LLMs can handle broad tasks across different sectors, SLMs are designed for specialised domains and are more cost-effective. The government believes that combining LLMs, SLMs and multimodal AI models can support innovation in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, education and MSMEs, while also promoting linguistic inclusion, affordability and energy efficiency in India’s growing digital ecosystem. India Unveils Roadmap for Homegrown AI: White Paper Focuses on Indigenous Foundation Models The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Indian government has released a white paper titled “Advancing Indigenous Foundation Models”, presenting a roadmap for developing India’s own artificial intelligence models. The document is part of the ongoing AI Policy White Paper Series aimed at guiding the country’s long-term strategy in artificial intelligence and strengthening India’s position in the global AI ecosystem. The report highlights that building indigenous foundation models is a key priority for the country. These models are large AI systems trained on massive datasets such as text, images, audio and video. They can perform several tasks including translation, summarisation, question answering and text classification, making them an important foundation for modern AI technologies. According to the white paper, India plans to develop foundation models trained on datasets relevant to the country. This will help improve transparency, inclusivity and alignment with national priorities, while ensuring that AI systems follow India’s legal framework, cultural values and security interests. The document also underlines the importance of both large language models (LLMs) and small language models (SLMs). While LLMs can handle broad tasks across different sectors, SLMs are designed for specialised domains and are more cost-effective. The government believes that combining LLMs, SLMs and multimodal AI models can support innovation in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, education and MSMEs, while also promoting linguistic inclusion, affordability and energy efficiency in India’s growing digital ecosystem.