Sarvam’s Vivek Raghavan on why sovereign AI is no longer optional

As geopolitical tensions and restrictions around advanced AI technologies intensify, Sarvam co-founder Vivek Raghavan believes India can no longer afford to depend on foreign companies for its AI future.

Speaking to Business Today following Sarvam’s $234 million Series B funding round ait its first close, Raghavan argued that the case for sovereign AI has become stronger than ever, even as the gap between India and global AI leaders remains significant.

“The view is becoming very clear that we can’t rely on anybody else as far as this is concerned,” he said, pointing to recent developments where the US government has issued directives on tech exports and growing concerns around access to critical technologies.

According to Raghavan, the US and China remain well ahead in the AI race, making it imperative for India to invest aggressively in domestic capabilities. “Both the United States and China are way ahead in this game. Therefore, we must play catch-up. It requires significant investment, probably even more than the investment we have today,” he said.

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Sarvam’s latest fundraise, led by HCLTech’s $150 million investment, is being seen as a vote of confidence in India’s ability to build foundational AI technologies. Raghavan said the capital will be deployed across multiple fronts, including training larger models, expanding inference infrastructure, building agentic AI capabilities, and hiring talent.

The company, which currently employs over 200 people, is also looking to strengthen its workforce with global AI talent. “We already have what I believe is the strongest AI team in the country, but we want to bring in world-class talent to take it to the next level,” he said.

A portion of the funding will also go towards securing additional computing capacity. Sarvam has already lined up long-term GPU access in anticipation of growing demand, though Raghavan acknowledged that future expansion could require more compute resources.

The partnership with HCLTech extends beyond capital. For Sarvam, one of the biggest advantages is that the investment comes from an Indian technology company at a time when sovereign AI is emerging as a strategic priority. HCLTech’s global enterprise reach is expected to help Sarvam scale its platforms across domestic and international markets. While Sarvam will continue building foundational AI platforms, HCLTech is expected to develop enterprise solutions on top of them.

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Looking ahead, Raghavan believes India must move beyond viewing AI as just another technology trend and treat it as a strategic national capability. He credited the IndiaAI Mission for helping Sarvam train and open source its models through subsidised compute support but stressed that more needs to be done.

“IndiaAI Mission is a very good start, but it is a beginning,” he said. “Compute, models and inference infrastructure need to be built in India. These tokens should run on our infrastructure first.”

Raghavan said India must build its own compute infrastructure, train indigenous AI models and run them locally if it wants to achieve meaningful AI sovereignty. He also urged policymakers and investors to back a handful of “national champions” with sufficient long-term capital, arguing that dependence on foreign AI platforms could limit India’s ability to improve its own models and retain strategic control over data.

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