Sarvam, an emerging Indian AI company dedicated to developing language models tailored for local languages and users, has introduced its Indus chat application for both web and mobile platforms. This launch positions Sarvam in an increasingly competitive market space, largely dominated by international giants such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. As India emerges as a key player in the adoption of generative AI technologies, this move is particularly significant. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, recently highlighted that ChatGPT boasts over 100 million weekly active users in India. Additionally, Anthropic reported that India contributes to 5.8% of its total usage for Claude, trailing only behind the United States.
Indus functions as a chat interface for Sarvam's newly introduced Sarvam 105B model, a massive language model comprising 105 billion parameters. This announcement comes just two days after Sarvam revealed its 105B and 30B models at the India AI Impact Summit held in New Delhi. At the summit, the company also shared its strategic plans for enterprise collaborations, hardware development, and partnerships with companies like HMD to integrate AI into Nokia feature phones, and Bosch for automotive AI applications.
Currently in its beta phase, the Indus app is accessible on iOS, Android, and web platforms. Users can engage with the app by typing or speaking their queries and receiving answers in both text and audio formats. Sign-in is facilitated through phone numbers, along with Google, Microsoft, or Apple accounts, although the service is presently restricted to the Indian market.
However, there are a few limitations to the app. Users are unable to delete their chat history independently; it requires account deletion. Moreover, there's no option to disable the app's reasoning feature, which can occasionally slow down response times. Sarvam has also cautioned that access might be limited as they work on expanding their compute capacity. "We’re gradually rolling out Indus on a limited compute capacity, so you may hit a waitlist at first. We will expand access over time," stated Pratyush Kumar, Sarvam's co-founder, on X. The company is actively seeking user feedback to enhance the app's performance.
Established in 2023, Sarvam has successfully raised $41 million from investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners, and Khosla Ventures, focusing on creating large-scale language models specifically for the Indian context. Sarvam is part of a growing cohort of Indian startups that aim to develop homegrown alternatives to global AI platforms, striving for increased autonomy over India's AI ecosystem.