Rishi @rishibal

Should India adopt AI or build its own? I think we're asking the wrong question. Because, the real answer is we need both. A few thoughts on why Adoption and Sovereignty are complements, not substitutes. WDYT?

Respectfully, India should do both. We should aggressively adopt the world’s best AI models to boost productivity today. And we should invest in our own models to preserve strategic autonomy tomorrow. In an era of 'weaponised interdependence', AI sovereignty is not a luxury. ----- I don’t believe we can outspend OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google to build the world’s leading models. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build our own. As models commoditise, the gap between frontier models and the previous generation shrinks. What is cutting edge today becomes accessible tomorrow. For critical use cases like government, defence, intelligence, and strategic sectors, we don’t want to be dependent on the AI equivalent of Gmail. For everything else, we should unapologetically adopt the best models available and use them to boost productivity. The choice isn’t sovereignty or adoption. It’s sovereignty AND adoption.

Nandan Nilekani @NandanNilekani

4 months ago

India doesn't need to lead the world in building the most advanced AI models. But it must lead in ensuring benefits of AI are widely shared. @rvenk and I have an op-ed in The @EconomicTimes economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-com…

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Don't fall for the doomer narratives about India. We have folks like @rishibal, who left a comfortable life in the US to return to India and work on our Sovereign AI initiative with @BharatGen_Com. Watch this fascinating conversation on how a group of bright young folks are helping us level up on AI 👇👇

During my visit to @iitbombay , I had the opportunity to interact with the team of @BharatGen_Com, an initiative led by Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan. Seeded by @IndiaDST under its cyber physical mission and subsequently supported under the @OfficialINDIAai Mission by @GoI_MeitY, BharatGen is working towards the development of sovereign foundational Large Language Models (LLMs) for India.

Dear @NandanNilekani You initiated a huge technology based revolution in India by starting with a strong "foundation" (aadhar), why not with AI? Once again, I respectfully, but strongly, disagree. India should be aiming to do both. Otherwise, it won't be a true leader.

Nandan Nilekani @NandanNilekani

4 months ago

India doesn't need to lead the world in building the most advanced AI models. But it must lead in ensuring benefits of AI are widely shared. @rvenk and I have an op-ed in The @EconomicTimes economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-com…

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"We need exclusive LLMs. On those LLMs, put 50 solid data engineers. An additional secretary doing AI or a major general doing AI is pointless, he doesn’t understand AI. Someone with real AI expertise has to come in and be told: this is our data..." - @Gen_RajShukla

ANI @ANI

5 months ago

“Rafales and missiles are useless unless you have software that leverages their delivery. So we must invest in AI. The 12 models Mr Vaishnaw has created, three or four should go to the military because our data cannot be shared in the civil stream. We need exclusive LLMs. On

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Was playing with @BharatGen_Com language model built by @ganramkr, @rishibal & team — truly impressive, given • Just a 17B model (smaller than GPT-3) now • Only at the pre-training stage — yet to be fine-tuned/aligned • Developed with highly constrained resources

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Param-2 is live on @huggingface. 17B parameter MoE. 22 trillion tokens. 22 Indian languages. Reasoning, math, code, tool calling. Built from scratch, in India, open for the world. 🤗 Try it now: huggingface.co/bharatgenai/Pa… #BharatGen #Param2 #OpenSource

MH Govt signs MoU with @BharatGen_Com @iitbombay @Dev_Fadnavis @rishibal @ganramkr

CMO Maharashtra @CMOMaharashtra

6 months ago

🤝 CM Devendra Fadnavis presided over the signing of MoU between the Govt of Maharashtra (IT Dept), BharatGen Technology Foundation and IIT Bombay at the ‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ in New Delhi today. This agreement establishes a structured institutional framework to foster

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Good to see international media take note of India’s sovereign AI models @ganramkr @rishibal @AI4IndiaOrg

Nikkei Asia @NikkeiAsia

6 months ago

India LLMs take on global giants with potent weapon: Local languages s.nikkei.com/4r1s3P9

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We are very excited to be working with the government of Andhra Pradesh on the future of AI for citizen services.

N Chandrababu Naidu @ncbn

6 months ago

Andhra Pradesh has partnered with BharatGen, NexGen, and IBM India to launch a State-wide AI Tech Hub. The initiative will empower citizens, from farmers to fishermen, setting a national example with an inclusive, Telugu-first, citizen-focused AI, with future Quantum-AI

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Andhra Pradesh has partnered with BharatGen, NexGen, and IBM India to launch a State-wide AI Tech Hub. The initiative will empower citizens, from farmers to fishermen, setting a national example with an inclusive, Telugu-first, citizen-focused AI, with future Quantum-AI integration. Delighted to be joined by Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan (BharatGen), Hrishikesh Mohal Bal (BharatGen), A S Rajgopal (NxtGen), Abhisyant Anasapurapu (NxtGen), Dr. Amith Singhee (IBM Research India), and Sandip Patel (IBM India).

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The Artificial Intelligence is no longer an option but an essential component of working in every sphere of life: says Union Minister @DrJitendraSingh at session on “BharatGen Models: Vision and Technical Execution 2026”. #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026 @PrinSciAdvGoI @PrinSciAdvOff @karandi65 @kris_sg @BharatGen_Com @OfficialINDIAai @IndiaAiExpo 🔗pib.gov.in/PressReleasePa…

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India kicks off one of the world’s largest artificial intelligence summits Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking to clear a path for India in a heated race to develop frontier models. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

BharatGen in parliament!

Dr Jitendra Singh @DrJitendraSingh

7 months ago

My intervention in #RajyaSabha on #BharatGen — India’s first government-owned, sovereign, Large Language Model, #LLM, powered by AI.

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#WATCH | Delhi | CEO of BharatGen, Rishi Bal says, "The event today is about artificial intelligence and the opportunities for India to adopt artificial intelligence for its progress...We'd like to share opportunities for people in government, industry, and students to work with and build with BharatGen...It is essential for India to have its own AI solutions, built in India, so they actually work for us better..."

It was incredible to meet the honorable PM and share our vision for @BharatGen_Com with him.

ANI @ANI

8 months ago

#WATCH | Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Roundtable with Indian AI Start-Ups at his residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, earlier today. Ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 to be held in India next month, 12 Indian AI start-ups who have qualified for the AI for

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Welcoming Rishi Bal, Head of BharatGen, to PPPF 2026. Leading India’s sovereign AI effort, he brings experience from government, Google Research, Microsoft and startups to the AI ecosystem conversation. #PPPF2026 #SovereignAI #AIEcosystem @rishibal

Wonderful chatting with @sochbySJ at #NeysaAI about the future of sovereign AI and building foundational AI in India. A big thanks to the team at Neysa and @sharad_sanghi for their ongoing support for @BharatGen_Com.

HIRING ALERT! We’re on a mission to build India’s sovereign foundation models and next-gen agentic AI solutions across Speech, Text, and Visionand we’re looking for passionate innovators to join us on this journey. #AI #Hiring #NLP #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence