Quote: Sam Altman on India's AI Startup Boom
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has praised India's burgeoning AI startup landscape, stating that the anticipated wave of innovation is not on its way but has already arrived. "The wave of new startups isn’t coming… it’s already here," Altman said, in a comment shared by India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
- Sam Altman's recent praise marks a significant shift from his 2023 statement when he called Indian attempts to build foundational AI models "totally hopeless." India is now OpenAI's second-largest market after the U.S., with over 100 million weekly active users on its tools. - The Indian government is backing the sector through the IndiaAI Mission, a five-year program with an outlay of over $1.25 billion (₹10,300 crore) aimed at building computing infrastructure and supporting startups. This initiative includes developing sovereign AI models like BharatGen, which focuses on 22 Indian languages. - Venture capital investment in Indian AI startups has surged, with AI's share of total VC funding growing from under 5% in 2020 to approximately 12% in 2025. In 2025 alone, AI companies attracted $1.2 billion across 188 investments, a 58% year-over-year increase in funding value. - The market for AI in India is projected to grow from $1,597 million in 2025 to over $17 billion by 2027, according to different reports, fueled by a large talent pool of over 600,000 AI professionals. - Homegrown foundational models are emerging, signaling a move from using to building AI. Krutrim, founded by Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal, became the nation's first AI unicorn in January 2024. Another key player, Sarvam AI, raised $41 million from investors including Lightspeed and Peak XV Partners to build large language models focused on Indian languages. - Major infrastructure partnerships are being established to support this growth. OpenAI is collaborating with the Tata Group to develop AI-ready data center capacity, while NVIDIA is working with providers like Yotta to build "AI factories" powered by over 20,000 of its GPUs. - Adoption among established startups is high, with a recent EY report indicating that two-thirds of India's top 50 unicorns are actively integrating AI into their operations to improve customer experience and efficiency.
