For Sarvams to scale, tap global capital

India presents a contradiction in AI. It's home to the world's 2nd-largest hub for generative AI startups. Yet, it attracts limited global capital because of constrained ambition. Companies developing foundation models are securing domestic venture funding. But even Sarvam, which became a unicorn after raising $234 mn this week, remains modestly valued compared with Silicon Valley peers. Without pairing local innovation with global capital at a larger scale, India risks missing the AI bus. 'Bharat Innovates 2026' at Nice, France, is currently showcasing technical talent in the EU, another market vulnerable to overreliance on offshore AI. A stronger international marketing push may be needed for Indian AI innovation to gain global attention.

The EU is a good starting point. Its consumer-centric approach limits access to data critical for building foundation AI models. India has the technical talent to build AI models to train on enormous data it generates. There is an obvious synergy between these two markets, which are equally at risk of being denied access to frontier AI models developed in the US or China. They also share concerns over data protection and adverse economics of becoming AI-consuming regions. These issues resonate in other parts of the world and can be shaped into coherent policy to widen the field in AI.

Sovereign AI matters in upholding cultural diversity, jurisdiction and security. It requires independent ability to develop, deploy and govern AI using local infra, data and models. This is critical to retaining the productivity gains from AI within the economy. Strategic wake-up calls tilt the debate over sovereign AI towards economics, where countries can negotiate acceptable terms. A hybrid model of global and local AI should emerge where India can play a significant role in tech development. This will be an open-source, culturally-sensitive environment that prioritises public-funded infra. Such a model of AI development will have many takers. But India will have to provide proof of execution.