‘India is no longer the late starter’: MoS Jitendra Singh on nation's emergence as deeptech giant

"India is no longer the late starter or late initiator as we are among the few countries that have a dedicated national quantum mission," Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh told DH. Speaking on the sidelines of a session on Sovereign Models: A story of vision and technical execution 2026, the minister said we are already into deeptech and we have dedicated schemes.

"Quantum is deeptech and we are among the few countries that have a dedicated National Quantum Mission (NQM). We are among the few countries in the world that have a dedicated exclusive biotechnology policy called the BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment)," the minister said, adding that the country is no longer the late starter.

The minister also added that the AI Impact Summit has given the country a huge geopolitical boost.

BharatGen has launched a 17-billion-parameter multilingual AI model, called Param2. The minister said the model will support 22 Indian languages. At the session, hosted by BharatGen in association with the India AI Mission, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), and the Department of Science and Technology (DST), as part of the Global AI Summit, he said AI is no longer an option but an essential component of working in every sphere of life.

The minister also said the initiative represents a significant milestone in India’s journey towards technological self-reliance. While large language models are known globally, he noted that BharatGen’s distinct feature lies in its sovereign, government-supported character, reflecting a proactive policy approach at an early stage of technological evolution.

Calling for a change in mindset across public and private sectors, the minister said that emerging technologies such as AI require collaborative approaches rather than siloed functioning.