India has achieved a landmark expansion in high-performance computing by deploying 37 supercomputers under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). This initiative, informed to the Lok Sabha by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, delivers a combined capacity of 40 petaflops. It represents one of the nation's most substantial technological infrastructure advancements in recent times.

Launched in 2015, the NSM seeks to establish a wholly self-reliant domestic supercomputing ecosystem. The program is jointly overseen by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Department of Science and Technology. C-DAC and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru act as the principal executing agencies.

Over the years, the mission has profoundly enhanced India's scientific prowess. It has empowered advanced research across premier institutes, national laboratories, and private industry sectors. The latest progress centres on the indigenously developed PARAM Rudra series, India's newest-generation supercomputers.

These PARAM Rudra machines feature locally designed Rudra server boards and a fully homegrown high-performance computing (HPC) software stack. They now drive pioneering research for young scientists, PhD scholars, engineers, and innovators.

Key fields include astrophysics, cosmology, earth sciences, drug discovery, artificial intelligence and machine learning, climate modelling, fluid dynamics, materials science, aerospace engineering, and genomics.

Government records indicate that PARAM Rudra and other NSM systems have aided over 13,000 researchers and 1,700 PhD scholars from 260 institutions across the country. More than one crore compute jobs have been executed on these platforms. This has led to over 1,500 research papers published in leading international journals.

Startups and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are increasingly utilising this infrastructure for HPC-enabled product development and innovation. The supercomputers are strategically placed at top academic and research centres. These include IISc Bengaluru, various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) in Mohali, the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Trichy, the Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) in Delhi, C-DAC facilities in Pune and Bangalore, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope–National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (GMRT–NCRA) in Pune, the Supercomputer Education and Research Centre (SETS) in Chennai, and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in Delhi.

Deployments since 2017 encompass a range of systems such as PARAM Shivay, PARAM Shakti, PARAM Sanganak, PARAM Seva, PARAM Smriti, PARAM Ganga, PARAM Ananta, PARAM Pravega, PARAM Vidya, and the latest PARAM Rudra units. Their capacities vary from 100 teraflops to more than 3 petaflops per system.

A primary objective of the NSM has been to diminish reliance on imported hardware. India has notched up notable indigenous achievements in this domain. These include the Rudra server board produced by domestic electronic manufacturing services (EMS) partners, high-speed interconnect technologies validated at 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps, innovative cooling solutions, a native HPC software stack, and compact PARAM Shavak supercomputing units tailored for colleges.

These strides are paving the way for the creation of Indian-designed HPC processors, accelerators, and storage systems. The government has further confirmed that six additional supercomputers are presently under deployment at key national institutions. This expansion is supported by an allocation of Rs 680 crore and will broaden HPC access to institutions in Tier-I, Tier-II, and Tier-III cities.

Minister of State Jitin Prasada has articulated the mission's enduring vision. It aims to equip every major research institution in India with world-class supercomputing facilities. Simultaneously, it fosters a resilient domestic manufacturing base for essential components.

The mission's rapid growth—featuring 34 deployments since 2020—has elevated India's stature as an emerging global centre for high-performance scientific research. Applications span weather and climate modelling, vaccine and drug discovery, astronomical computations, engineering simulations, and artificial intelligence-driven innovation.

This network not only bolsters self-reliance in critical technologies but also aligns with broader national goals like the Make in India initiative.

By democratising access to immense computational power, the NSM catalyses breakthroughs in strategic sectors such as aerospace engineering and materials science, which hold direct relevance to defence and space programs. As deployments continue, India edges closer to technological sovereignty in supercomputing.

Agencies