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Centre selects start-up Sarvam to build country’s first homegrown AI model
The company is developing three model variants: Sarvam-Large for advanced reasoning and generation, Sarvam-Small for real-time interactive applications, and Sarvam-Edge for compact on-device tasks, said one of the the company’s two co-founders.
The government has selected Bengaluru-based start-up Sarvam to build the country’s first indigenous artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) amid waves made by China’s low cost model DeepSeek. The start-up, chosen from among 67 applicants, will receive support from the government in terms of compute resources to build the model from scratch.
Sarvam is the first start-up to get approved for sops under India’s ambitious Rs 10,370 crore IndiaAI Mission to build a model, with the government currently assessing hundreds of other proposals. Sarvam said its model will be capable of reasoning, designed for voice, and fluent in Indian languages, and it will be ready for population-scale deployment.
A senior official said in terms of government support, the company will receive access to 4,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) for six months for the company to build and train its model. The model is not expected to be open-sourced, but will be fine-tuned particularly for Indian languages. The GPUs will be provided to Sarvam by companies separately selected by the government to set up AI data centres in India.
“This (Sarvam’s) model will have 70 billion parameters and many innovations in programming as well as engineering. With these innovations, a 70 billion parameter (model) can compete with some of the best in the world,” said IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
As part of Sarvam’s LLM proposal, the company is developing three model variants: Sarvam-Large for advanced reasoning and generation, Sarvam-Small for real-time interactive applications, and Sarvam-Edge for compact on-device tasks, said Pratyush Kumar, one of the the company’s two co-founders.
The development comes amid the meteoric rise of DeepSeek, a low-cost foundational model from China, which shook up the AI industry. DeepSeek’s entry into the AI space – touted for being open source, its accuracy and claims that it has been built at a fraction of the cost as its US competitors – sent Nvidia’s stock on a downward spiral, since its R1 model was trained on inferior GPUs compared with the likes of OpenAI.
Sarvam’s model will be built, deployed, and optimised in India, using local infrastructure and developed by a new generation of Indian talent. This initiative aims to promote strategic autonomy, accelerate domestic innovation, and secure India’s leadership in AI for the long term, the company said in a press statement.
Vivek Raghavan, also a co-founder of Sarvam, said, “This is a crucial step toward building critical national AI infrastructure. Our goal is to build multi-modal, multi-scale foundation models from scratch. When we do, a universe of applications unfolds. For citizens, this means interacting with AI that feels familiar, not foreign. For enterprises, this means unlocking intelligence without sending their data beyond borders”.
Earlier this year, the government had also selected 10 companies to supply 18,693 GPUs — high-end chips needed to develop machine learning tools — that can go into developing a foundational model. This is more than the initial aim of the IndiaAI Mission, under which the government was looking to procure 10,000 GPUs.
The companies empaneled to provide the GPU services include Jio Platforms, the Hiranandani Group-backed Yotta, Tata Communications, E2E Networks, NxtGen Datacenter, CMS Computers, Ctrls Datacenters, Locuz Enterprise Solutions, Orient Technologies, and Vensysco Technologies.
source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)
IIT Bombay scientists develop lotus leaf-like solar evaporators for salt water treatment
A new hydrophobic graphene-based material developed by IIT Bombay scientists could support efforts to address fresh water crisis in the world.
In a significant breakthrough to tackle the freshwater scarcity in various parts of the world, scientists from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay have developed a new material that can facilitate water desalination.
Researchers Professor Swatantra Pratap Singh and Aiswarya C. L. have developed Dual-Sided Superhydrophobic Laser-Induced Graphene (DSLIG) evaporator that addresses multiple shortcomings of earlier evaporators and has the potential for large-scale applications.
While water is abundant on Earth, only about 3% of it is freshwater, and even within that, less than 0.05% is easily accessible. Removing salt (desalination) from seawater and brackish water is seen as one of the solutions to address this problem, with researchers working towards developing more efficient and faster desalination techniques. However, brine (concentrated salt solution) from desalination is a big problem in landlocked places, and industries are looking for zero liquid discharge.
The researchers said that solar energy-based desalination methods are considered desirable due to their reduced carbon footprint. However, factors such as fluctuations in intensity and availability of sunlight and reduced rates of absorption of light greatly affect the efficiency and consistency of solar energy-based desalination techniques.
Mr. Singh explained that in recent years, interfacial evaporation systems have emerged as a promising approach. The key component of these systems is an evaporator made from materials that can absorb solar energy and heat up. The evaporator, placed on the surface of the water, focuses solar heat on a thin layer of water at the evaporator’s surface rather than heating the entire volume. This localized heating minimizes heat loss and enhances the efficiency of the desalination process.
However, despite this advantage, the problems with traditional solar desalination techniques do affect interfacial evaporators as well.
“Fluctuations in solar radiation cause temperature variations on the evaporator’s surface. On cloudy days, the performance of the interfacial system is halted due to the lack of solar energy. Additionally, the variation in solar radiation during the day affects the evaporation process, with evaporation rates typically peaking around 2 pm when solar intensity is highest,” Mr. Singh said.
Another major challenge with interfacial evaporation systems is the deposition of salt crystals on the surface of the evaporators. Salt deposition on the surface prevents water from coming in contact with the evaporator, and consequently, its efficiency diminishes over time. This research aims to address both of these issues. In addition to solar heating, DSLIG evaporators can also be heated using electricity (known as Joule heating), Mr. Singh said.
By combining solar and electric heating, the material is protected from fluctuations in the availability of sunlight. When there is less or no sunlight, electricity can be used to heat the evaporator and maintain similar temperatures, ensuring consistent performance. Additionally, DSLIG has a superhydrophobic property, meaning it repels water like lotus leaves.
Owing to the characteristics of their surfaces, superhydrophobic materials reduce the contact area between water droplets and the material surface, making droplets roll over them instead of wetting.
“In desalination applications, the superhydrophobic nature of DSLIG helps prevent salt dissolved in water from sticking to the evaporator surface, thus maintaining efficiency over time. The primary goal of our work was to create a superhydrophobic surface, exhibiting the lotus effect, capable of functioning with both solar and Joule heating,” Mr. Singh explained.
The researchers fabricated DSLIG by coating a layer of a polymer called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) on one side of a thin layer of another polymer LIG, poly (ether sulfone) (PES). Graphene was then engraved on the PVDF polymer side of the material using laser-based engraving technology. “The material derives its name from the fact that it has two distinct sides formed by the two polymers and the fabrication technique used. PES doesn’t repel water, but it is essential to prevent the evaporator from breaking easily. If only PES were used, the final surface would get wet on both sides. However, using PVDF resulted in hydrophobicity on both surfaces. The use of PES as a substrate ensured mechanical stability, while the PVDF layer contributed to the hydrophobic characteristics necessary for efficient evaporation processes,” the professor said.
Laboratory tests show that DSLIG not only exhibits lotus leaf-like behavior, preventing salt deposition and excellent efficiency for desalination under both electric and solar heating, but is also very effective in treating extremely concentrated salt solutions. This makes it an ideal candidate for treating salt water discharges from other desalination outlets as well as industrial wastewater.
The researchers have also demonstrated that the performance of DSLIG improves when multiple evaporators are stacked on top of each other. While the low carbon footprint, low toxicity, and cost-effectiveness make DSLIG a potential candidate for large-scale sustainable desalination applications and the treatment of industrial wastewater. Mr. Singh said that further field testing is required before such large-scale applications can be made.
“One of the major hurdles the team faces in ensuring and testing the industrial readiness of this technology is a lack of funding. In the meantime, we are looking forward to developing more such superhydrophobic materials that can simultaneously utilise both solar and electric energy with even greater efficiency,” Mr. Singh added.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)
Dr K Kasturirangan (1940-2025): Visionary scientist who dreamed big, steered ISRO through tough times
Kasturirangan, a celebrated space scientist who also served as member of Rajya Sabha and a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, passed away in Bengaluru on Friday morning. He was 84, and ailing for the last two years due to age-related complications.
Chandrayaan-3 was scheduled to make its landing on the Moon on August 23, 2023. A day earlier, The Indian Express had reached out to K Kasturirangan, the charismatic former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), seeking an interview to mark the occasion. Having suffered a heart attack a month ago, and not in the best of health, Kasturirangan was reluctant, and sent a message that the best he would be able to do would be to send a few lines of written responses.
But a day later, just ahead of the landing, he indicated that he would like to talk, and appeared on a video call from his Bengaluru home where he was recovering.
“I have not been keeping well, and did not want to do interviews. But you have asked a very interesting question about Vikram Sarabhai, and I wanted to talk about this. After all, I am amongst the last few remaining who is proud to have known and worked closely with Sarabhai,” Kasturirangan said, and went on to have a conversation that went on for more than half an hour.
Kasturirangan, a celebrated space scientist who also served as member of Rajya Sabha and a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, passed away in Bengaluru on Friday morning . He was 84, and ailing for the last two years due to age-related complications. His condition had deteriorated last month, and he had been under palliative care at home.
The question that had aroused his interest on the Moon-landing day related to Sarabhai, widely considered the father of India’s space programme, and a man he admired deeply. Former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, in his tribute, wrote that Kasturirangan would often tell him how profoundly he had been impacted personally and professionally by Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan, another space stalwart.
Sarabhai also happened to be the teacher under whom Kasturirangan completed his PhD, in cosmic X-rays, at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad.
Sarabhai, while talking about the role of space programme in a developing country like India way back in 1968, had famously remarked that he did not have the “fantasy” of India competing with other advanced nations in the exploration of Moon, other planets, or manned missions, and would much rather see ISRO working for the benefit of common people, and help in providing solutions to the country’s problems.
When asked if ISRO was finally diverging from Sarabhai’s vision now that it not only had a full-fledged exploration programme but was also planning to send humans into space, Kasturirangan had said, “I am glad you asked this. And this is important to understand the role that India’s space programme plays. It is true that Sarabhai saw space technologies as a tool to fulfil India’s developmental requirements. He was of the view that in a developing country like India, space technology could ensure optimal utilisation and management of the limited resources. He used to forcefully argue that timely, accurate and precise information about our critical resources was essential. We had primitive communication systems at the time. We needed massive improvements in education and health systems. We needed good information in meteorology which could predict rains so that we could plan our agricultural activities.
With his passionate advocacy, he managed to convince the government to invest in space technology. And thus, India became the only country — probably Japan was another — to start a space programme with an entirely peaceful approach to uses of space technology, and focussed totally on developmental needs,” Kasturirangan had said.
“Sarabhai unfortunately died in 1971 but all his successors at ISRO, Prof MGK Menon, Satish Dhawan and U R Rao, continued to work on his vision. ISRO built capabilities in remote sensing, communication, broadcasting, meteorology, earth observation, satellite technologies. By the time U R Rao left office (in 1994), much of Sarabhai’s vision had already been realised,” he said, arguing that the logical next step in carrying forward Sarabhai’s legacy was to utilise the capabilities built in the previous three decades. The foray into space exploration thus was an obvious choice.
“India’s space programme is still serving the country, and its people. In many more ways now, because of our enhanced capabilities,” he said.
Kasturirangan himself had a pivotal role to play in the transformation of ISRO into a formidable space exploration agency competing with the best in the world. It was during his nearly decade-long leadership of the organisation (1994-2003) that the Moon mission was conceived, and the first conversations on a possible human spaceflight were laid on the table.
In the book ‘Space and Beyond’, Kasturirangan revealed that in the proposal put forward to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he and his colleagues had named the lunar programme as ‘Somayaan’. It was Vajpayee who changed it to ‘Chandrayaan’ since he considered it more apt. Kasturirangan has also written that at the Indian Science Congress event in 2003, Vajpayee had asked him about the possibility of sending humans into space. He had told Vajpayee that it was possible but would take some time.
Kasturirangan guided ISRO during a rather tumultuous period. This was the time when India faced tight international controls on technology, which became worse after the 1998 nuclear tests. India had been denied the crucial cryogenic technology without which a well-developed space programme could not be built. It was during Kasturirangan’s time that ISRO embarked on self-reliance and indigenisation, which delayed the programmes a bit but eventually paid off handsomely in creating in-house capabilities. Kasturirangan also had to deal with the infamous spy scandal case, one of the worst crises that ISRO has faced.
After his retirement from ISRO, where he served for more than three-and-a-half decades, Kasturirangan was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the Vajpayee government in 2003. After that stint was over, the Manmohan Singh government appointed him as a member of the Planning Commission in 2009 where he served till the change of government in 2014.
He headed two committees whose reports have led to major policy changes. His report on the ecology of the Western Ghats, essentially a review of an earlier report by a committee headed by environmentalist Madhav Gadgil, is the basis on which human activities in specific areas of the Western Ghats are sought to be regulated. Kasturirangan also headed the committee that recommended the New Education Policy.
source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)
SAMHI to sell 35% stake for Rs 752 crore in three subsidiaries to GIC Singapore
SAMHI will primarily use the sale proceeds to reduce its debt, and a small portion allocated to cover transaction expenses.
Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, is acquiring a 35% stake in three subsidiaries of SAMHI Hotels — Courtyard & Fairfield by Marriott (Bengaluru ORR), Hyatt Regency Pune and the recently acquired Trinity Hotel in Whitefield, Bengaluru– for an investment of Rs 752 crore. The total enterprise value of these three subsidiaries stands at Rs 2,200 crore.
SAMHI will be mainly utilising the sale proceeds for paying off its debts. “Rs 603 crore from the deal will be used upfront to reduce the debt across the company’s portfolio and a small amount will be used towards deal expenses,” the company said.
The balance, Rs 149 crore, will be used over next two years to part fund the capital expenditure for the Westin Tribute Portfolio Bengaluru Whitefield dual branded hotel.
SAMHI expects a Rs 580 crore reduction in debt and a 15-20% upward impact on profit after tax on account of this transaction. “The transaction follows our stated strategy of capital recycling and will lead to significant reduction in debt and partnership with a global investor of GIC’s stature for funding further growth. Net Debt-to-EBITDA at closing < 3.5X; accelerated path to < 3.0X in the next 12 months without compromising on growth,” stated the company.
The company also said the partnership will be incubated with five of SAMHI’s hotels with more than 1,000 rooms (the seed assets) valued at Rs 2,200 crore.
The hotels include the Hyatt Regency Pune, with 301 rooms (and upcoming 22 apartments), the Courtyard by Marriott – Bengaluru, ORR with 176 rooms, the Fairfield by Marriott – Bengaluru, ORR with 160 rooms, the Trinity Hotel – Bengaluru, Whitefield with 142 rooms which will be converted as part of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio and an under development 220 rooms Westin Hotel, which is being added to the existing Trinity Hotel in Bengaluru.
“We are pleased to announce this transformational partnership with GIC. We have a strong track record in the hotel sector in India and GIC brings unparalleled institutional capabilities for us to benefit from. In addition to helping us strengthen our balance sheet, this partnership gives us tremendous firepower to grow our portfolio,” said SAMHI Hotels MD and CEO Ashish Jakhanwala, in a media release on Thursday.
source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)
Ciklum to double workforce in India with new offices in Chennai, Pune
The UK-based software company plans to open two new offices in India — a 15,000 square foot facility in Chennai and a 25,000 square foot site in Pune, aiming to scale its presence in this market, which it described as a key hub for digital talent.
London-based software development and IT outsourcing company Ciklum said on Tuesday it will double its engineering workforce in India and open two new offices, as part of a broader push to expand its global operations.
The company plans to open a 15,000 square foot facility in Chennai and a 25,000 square foot site in Pune, aiming to scale its presence in India, which it described as a key hub for digital talent.
“We’re making a significant investment in India—doubling our engineering talent and expanding across Chennai, Pune, and other tech hub, ” the company’s chief executive officer Raj Radhakrishnan told reporters.
Ciklum, which employs more than 4,000 people globally, reported annual revenues of over $225 million. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region contributes about 80% of its revenue, while the United States accounts for 20%. Radhakrishnan said it expects US revenue to double as part of its strategic growth plans. Ciklum partners with firms including Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon Web Services, offering AI-led solutions to clients in banking, retail, technology, and healthcare sectors.
The company said it is expanding its AI capabilities to deliver faster, more personalised services, and has launched an innovation lab in partnership with SRM Easwari Engineering College in Chennai. The initiative, called Lumina, will focus on research in artificial intelligence and edge computing.
source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)
India clinches four medals at EGMO for maths Olympiad
EGMO, an annual mathematics competition, was held last week from April 11 to 17, with at least 50 countries participating in the competition.
India won two Silver and two Bronze medals at the 14th European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO) 2025 in Prishtina, Kosovo, achieving a milestone at the global level. The win is significant as India’s all-girls team secured 12th place overall at EGMO.
Sanjana Chacko (16) from Kerala and Shreya Mundhada (15) from Mumbai won silver medals, whereas Saee Patil (18) from Pune, Maharashtra and Shreya Gupta Ray (18) from Kolkata won the bronze medal. The four-member team was led by Dr. Mrudul Thatte from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
EGMO, an annual mathematics competition, was held last week from April 11 to 17, with at least 50 countries participating in the competition. The competition has been designed for high school girls passionate about maths, encouraging young females to become scientists and boosting the number of girls in International Olympiad movement (IMO) teams.
“Such competition inspires girls and builds confidence that they can compete with the world. It took India three decades to be at this point, so this achievement is significant and important that girls can do equally well in maths,” said Arnab Bhattacharya, a Central Director of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE).
HBCSE- TIFR identifies and nurtures students for participation in international Olympiads in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy, and Mathematics. HBCSE-TIFR comes under the purview of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India.
“We attribute this success to the dedicated efforts of past medallists, as well as the structured training provided through the EGMO Training Camp (EGMOTC) by HBCSE and continuous support provided by the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) and DAE for this Olympiad Program,” said HBCSE spokesperson Sumana Amin.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)
India announces three-day state mourning on passing of Pope Francis
During the period of the state mourning, the national flag will be flown at half mast throughout India on all buildings where the national flag is flown regularly and there will be no official entertainment.
The government on Monday (April 21, 2025) announced a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect on the passing away of Pope Francis.
In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said, “His Holiness Pope Francis, Supreme Pontiff of the Holy See passed away on April 21. As a mark of respect, three-day state mourning shall be observed throughout India.”
Francis, who was the first non-European Pope in nearly 1,300 years, died on Monday. He was 88.
As per the schedule, two days’ state mourning will be on April 22 (Tuesday) and April 23 (Wednesday). Besides, one day’s state mourning will be on the day of the funeral, the statement said.
Regional leaders mourn Pope
During the period of the state mourning, the national flag will be flown at half mast throughout India on all buildings where the national flag is flown regularly and there will be no official entertainment, it added.
source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)