India’s Sarvam Launches Indus AI Chat App as Competition Heats Up

When Sarvam AI unveiled its Indus chat app this week, the Bengaluru-based startup wasn’t just launching another AI assistant. It was making a calculated bet that India’s linguistic diversity—and its nearly 1.4 billion people—represent an opportunity that global giants have barely begun to tap.

“ChatGPT has more than 100 million weekly active users in India.” — Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO

A 105 Billion-Parameter Bet on Local Markets

Sarvam’s Indus app serves as the consumer-facing interface for the company’s newly announced Sarvam 105B model, a 105-billion-parameter large language model designed specifically for Indian languages and contexts. The launch comes just days after the startup unveiled both its 105B and 30B models at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, where it also outlined ambitious enterprise initiatives and hardware partnerships.

The timing is no accident. India has emerged as a critical battleground for generative AI adoption. OpenAI’s Sam Altman revealed this month that ChatGPT has surpassed 100 million weekly active users in the country, while Anthropic reports that India accounts for 5.8% of total Claude usage—second only to the United States. For Sarvam, the message is clear: the market is there, but local players may have advantages that global models can’t easily replicate.

From Feature Phones to Automotive AI

Hardware partnerships form a key pillar of Sarvam’s strategy. The company announced collaborations with HMD to bring AI capabilities to Nokia feature phones—a move that could democratize access for millions of users without smartphones. It also partnered with Bosch for AI-enabled automotive applications, signaling ambitions that extend far beyond chat interfaces.

Enterprise initiatives unveiled at the summit suggest Sarvam is positioning itself as a full-stack AI provider, not merely a consumer app company. The startup appears to be betting that Indian businesses will prefer locally-built models that understand regional languages, cultural contexts, and regulatory requirements.

Current availability of the Indus app is limited to India for now, available in beta on iOS, Android, and web platforms. Users can authenticate via phone number, Google, Microsoft, or Apple ID, and interact with the assistant through both text and voice.

“India accounts for 5.8% of total Claude usage, second only to the U.S.” — Anthropic Research

The Competitive Landscape Sharpens

Sarvam enters a market already crowded with well-funded competitors. OpenAI and Anthropic have established significant user bases, while Google continues to integrate Gemini across its products. What Sarvam offers—at least in theory—is a model trained on India’s linguistic diversity from the ground up, rather than adapted from primarily English-centric training data.

The app currently ships with some limitations. Users cannot delete chat history without deleting their entire account, and there’s no option to disable the reasoning feature, which can slow response times. These are early-beta rough edges that the company will need to smooth if it hopes to compete with the polished experiences offered by established players.

Industry observers are watching closely to see whether Sarvam can convert its technical announcements into sustained user engagement. The coming months will reveal whether India’s AI market has room for local champions—or whether global platforms will continue to dominate.

This article was reported by the ArtificialDaily editorial team. For more information, visit TechCrunch.