India to more than double its GPU capacity in six months, says IT Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw at AI Summit

India is set to massively ramp up its AI compute muscle. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi that over 50,000 GPUs will be deployed within the next six months—effectively more than doubling the country's current capacity.At present, India has 38,000 GPUs up and running under the IndiaAI Mission. Of the fresh additions, 20,000 are already in the pipeline and expected to come online shortly, while orders for another 40,000 will be placed separately. Vaishnaw described this as part of a continuous push to put high-quality compute power in the hands of startups, researchers, and students.

India's total GPU count could cross 1 lakh by year-end

Should the rollout go as planned, India's installed GPU base could comfortably breach the 1,00,000 mark before 2026 ends—a target IndiaAI Mission CEO Abhishek Singh had outlined earlier this month.

That's nearly three times where things stand today.GPUs are the engine room of modern AI. They handle everything from training large language models to powering real-time applications in healthcare, agriculture, and public services. Under the IndiaAI Mission, these resources are available to developers at a subsidised rate of just Rs 65 per hour—deliberately kept low to ensure smaller players aren't priced out.

Why the compute push is critical to India's AI playbook

India ranks as the world's third-largest AI ecosystem, behind only the US and China. But compute access has remained a sore spot — especially for early-stage startups and researchers trying to train foundation models without deep pockets. The IndiaAI Mission, backed by over Rs 10,300 crore in funding over five years, has been chipping away at this through public-private partnerships and empanelment rounds for GPU providers.

Four rounds have been completed so far.With global demand for AI compute still outpacing supply, the aggressive timeline signals that centre is serious about not letting infrastructure become the bottleneck for its AI ambitions.