Investor T V Mohandas Pai has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a Rs 50,000 crore India AI Mission to secure the nation's technological sovereignty. Pai argues that current government AI initiatives are insufficient and too slow to compete internationally, proposing that Nandan Nilekani serve as vice-chair of a new mission involving both private and government sector leaders. Beyond the primary allocation, Pai requested a 200,000 crore ELGS Guarantee Fund to support the development of domestic hyper-cloud infrastructure, hardware, and semiconductor chips.

The urgency follows a recent global access restriction imposed by Anthropic, which disabled foreign access to its premium Mythos and Fable 5 AI models. This lockout occurred after a direct mandate from the Donald Trump administration, which ordered an immediate suspension of foreign access to these flagship systems. Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu described this event as a critical warning for Indian enterprises that depend on foreign platforms, emphasizing that technology has become a central instrument of national sovereignty. Anthropic formally confirmed on Saturday that it is complying with the US government directive to block all non-US access to its advanced AI technology.

Investor T V Mohandas Pai has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch a Rs 50,000 crore India AI Mission to secure the nation's technological sovereignty. Pai argues that current government AI initiatives are insufficient and too slow to compete internationally, proposing that Nandan Nilekani serve as vice-chair of a new mission involving both private and government sector leaders. Beyond the primary allocation, Pai requested a 200,000 crore ELGS Guarantee Fund to support the development of domestic hyper-cloud infrastructure, hardware, and semiconductor chips.

The urgency follows a recent global access restriction imposed by Anthropic, which disabled foreign access to its premium Mythos and Fable 5 AI models. This lockout occurred after a direct mandate from the Donald Trump administration, which ordered an immediate suspension of foreign access to these flagship systems. Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu described this event as a critical warning for Indian enterprises that depend on foreign platforms, emphasizing that technology has become a central instrument of national sovereignty. Anthropic formally confirmed on Saturday that it is complying with the US government directive to block all non-US access to its advanced AI technology.