Verma further highlighted unresolved questions around sustained access to high-performance computing and long-term funding.
“When you move to a platform like Google Cloud or Microsoft Azure, you are not just deploying a model,” he said. “You are getting the full infrastructure, support, service-level agreements and partnerships.” Startups focused solely on foundational models often struggle to match that ecosystem depth.
Currently, Sarvam’s computing support comes from more than 4,000 AI chips provided by the Indian government. Recently, the company announced partnerships with state governments like Odisha and Tamil Nadu to build AI facilities and data centres.
In addition to government support, the company has raised a total of US$53.8 million from venture capital investors, according to data from analytics firm Tracxn.
However, the company does not want to rely solely on funding and instead “wants to be a company that’s self-sustaining financially”, Chatterjee explained.
That would mean gaining paying customers. So far, Sarvam’s disclosed customers include Tata Capital and government agency the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). In February, it also announced partnerships with Qualcomm, Bosch and Nokia HMD.
The company currently offers three subscription tiers: a Starter plan that operates on a pay-per-request basis, a Pro plan priced at 10,000 rupees (US$109) and a Business plan priced at 50,000 rupees.
According to Tracxn, Sarvam reported revenue of 219 million rupees for the financial year ending March 2025, up 162 per cent year-on-year. However, net losses widened more than fifteen-fold to 1 billion rupees, underscoring the capital-intensive nature of AI model development.
Competition within India’s AI market is also intensifying.
Soket AI, another government-backed firm, is developing a 120B-parameter model. Other players include Gnani AI, BharatGen Initiative (17B), Tech Mahindra (8B) and Fractal Analytics in healthcare AI. Krutrim AI, part of Ola Group, released a 12B model in 2025 and is reportedly working on a 700B model.
Beyond local rivals, Sarvam also faces stiff competition from global giants such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, all of which are rapidly expanding their footprint in India.
IS THIS INDIA’S DEEPSEEK MOMENT?
Experts said DeepSeek’s disruption in early 2025 rested on three pillars: releasing open weights, clearly demonstrating cost-performance gains, and enabling independent benchmarking.
While Sarvam has shown technical ambition and bold efficiency claims, it has yet to meet those standards for global validation.
