Ministry of Defence signs five-year MoU with Sarvam AI to develop sovereign AI for Indian Armed Forces

Key facts

• Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS), Ministry of Defence.
• The collaboration covers AI applications, research, knowledge management, training and decision support across the Army, Navy and Air Force.
• The partnership aims to build secure, sovereign and scalable AI capabilities, with an emphasis on data sovereignty and responsible AI solutions.
• The work will be carried out by Chanakya, Sarvam’s national-security and defence division, using its AI stack including the Sarvam 105B foundation model.
• The AI layer will be built in India and deployed on sovereign infrastructure.
• The partnership establishes a development framework, while its financial scale, project timelines and implementation plans remain undisclosed.