'Our innovations will be noticed by the world as pathbreaking models': Vaishnaw after US investor praises Sarvam AI

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said India’s push for a sovereign AI model strategy is delivering tangible results, citing growing recognition for homegrown AI startup Sarvam and its recent technological progress.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Vaishnaw said even critics are now praising Sarvam’s advanced models released under the government’s AI mission. He said that young Indian engineers are also driving innovations across materials science, healthcare and cybersecurity that are expected to gain global attention.

“Our smart young engineers are working on innovations in materials science, healthcare and cybersecurity that will be noticed by the world as pathbreaking models,” Vaishnaw wrote.

Our sovereign model strategy is delivering results.

Even the most critical reviewers are praising the technologically advanced model released by Sarvam as a part of our AI mission.

In parallel, our smart young engineers are working on innovations in materials science,… https://t.co/PA8zR4xq9d

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) February 8, 2026

Vaishnaw’s remarks came in response to comments by Deedy Das, a technology investor and writer, who publicly acknowledged that his earlier assessment of Sarvam had been incorrect.

Das said he was initially sceptical about the company’s focus on building smaller AI models for Indian languages but noted that Sarvam has since made significant progress.

“I was wrong about Sarvam. When I wrote about them a year ago, I felt like the direction to train small "indic" language models was wrong. But boy, have they turned it around,” Das wrote.

I was wrong about Sarvam.

When I wrote about them a year ago, I felt like the direction to train small "indic" language models was wrong. But boy, have they turned it around. They have the best text-to-speech, speech-to text, and OCR models for Indic languages, and that's… pic.twitter.com/gXMOo9XzXZ

— Deedy (@deedydas) February 7, 2026

According to Das, Sarvam now offers strong text-to-speech, speech-to-text and optical character recognition models for Indian languages, filling a critical gap in the ecosystem. He also highlighted the affordability of the products and the ease of use of the company’s platform, describing the technology as both practical and globally competitive.

“I don't know anything about the business, but there's a lot to appreciate about what they've build technologically and I can't remember the last time I felt that way about software products coming out of India. Well done,” Das added.

I'll need to ensure my eulogy includes 'dubbed one of the "most critical reviewers" by the Indian Railway Minister' 🤣

— Deedy (@deedydas) February 8, 2026