Bhavish Aggarwal Launches Krutrim AI with ₹2,000 Cr Investment

Ola Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has launched Krutrim AI Labs, a pioneering initiative aimed at developing AI solutions tailored for India. As part of this ambitious project, Aggarwal has committed an initial investment of ₹2,000 crore, with plans to scale it up to ₹10,000 crore by next year. This funding will be directed towards building cutting-edge AI models and establishing India’s first AI-driven innovation hub.

Krutrim AI Labs is set to tackle key challenges in India's AI ecosystem, including Indic language processing, data scarcity, and cultural context adaptation. Aggarwal emphasized that while AI development has been underway for over a year, the company's decision to open-source its work marks a significant step towards fostering collaboration and innovation in the Indian AI landscape.

“We’ve been working on AI for a year, and today, we are releasing our work to the open-source community, along with several technical reports. Our mission is to enhance AI for India, addressing challenges in Indian languages, data availability, and cultural nuances,” Aggarwal stated on X (formerly Twitter).

Krutrim is also collaborating with NVIDIA to build India’s first GB200 AI supercomputer, expected to be operational by March 2025. The company aims to make it the largest AI supercomputer in India by the end of the year, reinforcing its commitment to scaling AI infrastructure in the country.

In December 2024, Aggarwal pledged his Ola Electric shares to secure funding for Krutrim SI Designs, his AI startup. So far, Krutrim has raised $75 million and joined the unicorn club in January 2024. The company is backed by investors such as Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners) and the Sarin Family, among others.

While Krutrim AI Labs has made rapid progress within a year, Aggarwal acknowledges that India still has a long way to go in AI innovation. By open-sourcing AI models and fostering collaboration, Krutrim aims to establish India as a global AI powerhouse.