Sarvaman Indian artificial intelligence startup focused on building models for local languages and users on Friday launched its chat app Indus for web and mobile users, entering a fast-growing market dominated by global players such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
The launch comes as India has become a key battleground for AI adoption. Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ChatGPT has more than 100 million weekly active users in India, while Anthropic said India accounts for 5.8% of total Claude usagesecond only to the USA
Indus serves as the chat interface for the newly announced Sarvam 105B model, the company’s 105-billion-parameter large-tongue model. The app launch comes two days after Bengaluru-based Sarvam unveiled its 105B and 30B models at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi earlier this week. At the summit, the startup also outlined business initiatives and hardware plans, and announced partnerships with companies including HMD to bring AI to Nokia feature phones and Bosch for AI-enabled car applications.
Currently available in beta on iOS, Androidand the tissuethe Indus app allows users to type or speak queries and receive text and audio responses. Users can sign in using their phone number, Google or Microsoft account, or Apple ID, though the service appears to be limited to India for now.
The app currently comes with some limitations. Users can’t delete their chat history without deleting their account, and there’s no option to turn off the app’s reasoning feature, which can sometimes slow down response times. Sarvam has also warned that access may be limited as it gradually expands its computing capacity.
“We’re rolling out Indus on a limited compute basis, so you may be waitlisted at first. We’ll expand access over time,” Sarvam co-founder Pratyush Kumar he wrote on X, adding that the company is looking for feedback from users.
Founded in 2023, Sarvam has raised $41 million to date from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners and Khosla Ventures as it builds large language models tailored to India.
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Sarvam is one of a small but growing group of Indian startups trying to build domestic alternatives to global AI platforms as India seeks greater control over its AI infrastructure.
