India wants a sovereign AI model. It’s a big goal, and success means stringing together contributions from a range of entities, including Big Tech firms and domestic AI developers of all scales. The ideal version of this plan was meant to lead to plenty of competition—no preordained winners.

The latest development, however, is one that runs against that framework. Sarvam has been tapped to build India’s own large language model (LLM), while firms like Gan AI, Soket AI Labs, and Krutrim—all shortlisted to be part of the process—are still waiting for a call from the government.

Never one to let an opportunity slide, Sarvam is using its newfound status to raise up to $100 million in fresh venture funding, people in India’s AI ecosystem told The Ken.

As a nation, India is making a big bet to bring into existence a sovereign AI model. But it’s off to a rocky and familiar start: there’s one anointed winner while many others are left confused. 

Besides, there are questions about whether India’s flagship AI initiative is on the right course. Sarvam is a two-year-old company that’s funded with non-sovereign capital from the likes of Lightspeed, Peak XV, and Khosla Ventures. Does that warp the nature of India’s plan to create a sovereign AI model?

Abhirami explains in this week’s Make India Competitive Again, as read by Snigdha Sharma.

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India had as estimated 101 million diabetics in 2023, with another 136 million people in pre-diabetic state. Among them, 11 million people are on insulin therapy. 

It’s a market worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore with Novo Nordisk as the leader, controlling 60%. Two other MNCs—Sanofi and Eli Lilly—control another 25%. 

All three companies are phasing out their insulin products in the country.

One pair of entities stand to benefit from those departures: the Bengaluru-based Biocon Group and its new commercial partner, Eris Lifesciences.

Even though Biocon is India’s largest pharmaceutical company, it never had more than 10% share of the country’s insulin market. The MNCs consistently kept Biocon’s influence in India in check, so the firm took its insulin business overseas, to countries such as Malaysia, Mexico, and the United States.

But the vacuum at home will change things for Biocon-Eris very soon.

Seema Singh and Sudeshna Ray cover this development in this week’s edition of Make India Competitive Again.

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Despite low yields, debt, and climate change, India should be an agricultural powerhouse.

In some ways, the country is on its way to attain that status.

One figure tells this story: in the five years leading up to 2022, the number of Indians who couldn’t afford a healthy diet—that’s an intake of 2,330 kilocalories from six different food groups a day—went down by 16%, outpacing the global decline.

India’s increasingly abundant food production doesn’t just address needs at home. It also gives the country an edge in global trade.

Even though India’s share of global farm exports is just 2.2%, there are signs that this will grow. In the decade leading up to FY24, for instance, India’s farm exports more than doubled to over $48 billion.

There’s incredible untapped potential. See how Brazil exported $54 billion worth of farm goods to China in 2023. India’s outbound shipments to the US, its largest trading partner, amounted to just one-tenth of that amount. The fact that India isn’t subjected to high tariffs from the US puts it in a position to develop a more favourable trade relationship in the future.

So, where does India’s agriculture sector go from there?

Seetharaman G explains in this week’s edition of Make India Competitive Again.

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You’ve seen the news: US President Donald Trump is playing roulette with the global trade order. Then, there’s the massive Rs 23,000 crore performance-linked incentive scheme that the Indian cabinet approved for electronics makers at around the same time.

For companies in the manufacturing sector, it’s been a mad, hectic April. They know it’s necessary to strike new alliances—or renew old ones—if they are to emerge from the chaos in better shape than before. That means they’re looking for technology partners and opportunities for joint ventures.

But India, for a while, tried hard to avoid one particular partnership that could give its companies a much needed boost up the value chain.

China.

The reluctance isn’t surprising, but consultants and industry executives say it may not be long before tie-ups with Chinese firms become inevitable.

As they say, “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

Shristi Achar explains in this week’s edition of Make India Competitive Again. Check it out.

Read by Brady Ng

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One of the first reactions to Donald Trump’s tariffs in the Indian media was: let’s have more of “Make in India”.

On the surface, the rationale for stepping up domestic manufacturing is clear. The US is inflicting pain on China, and that’s supposed to work to India’s advantage, given the wide gulf in tariffs on the two Asia giants.

But “Make in India” has been around for more than a decade, and manufacturing is no more important to the Indian economy now than it was before Narendra Modi took office in 2014. Even the introduction of production-linked incentives in 2020 hasn’t helped.

India is nowhere close to its target of manufacturing accounting for 25% of its economic output by the end of 2025.

And let’s face it: Chinese manufacturers are true survivors.

They survived Trump’s first presidential term—and now thrive.So, what’s really in store for India?

Seetharaman G explains in this week’s edition of Make India Competitive Again. Check it out.

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The audio edition of The Ken’s Make India Competitive Again newsletter, spearheaded by Seetharaman G. Every Wednesday, our editors and reporters read the latest edition and chronicle what India is doing, will do, and should do—to not just survive but thrive in the chaos unleashed by Donald Trump.