Seruman Indian AI startup focused on building models for local languages ​​and users, on Friday launched its IndusChat app for web and mobile users, entering a fast-growing market dominated by global players including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

The launch comes at a time when India has become a key battleground for adoption of creative AI. 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 cloud usage.It is second only to the United States.

Indus serves as a chat interface for its newly announced Sarvam 105B model, the company’s 105-billion parameter large language model. The app launch comes two days after Bengaluru-based Sarum 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 enterprise initiatives and hardware plans and announced partnerships with companies including HMD to bring AI to Nokia feature phones and Bosch for AI-powered automotive applications.

Currently available in beta on. iOS, Androidand Webthe Indus app allows users to type or speak questions and receive answers in text and audio. Users can sign in using their phone number, a Google or Microsoft account, or an 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 response times. Sarum also warns that access may be restricted as it gradually increases its compute capacity.

“We’re gradually moving indus to a limited compute capacity, so you can hit the waitlist first. We’ll expand access over time,” said Pratiyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam. wrote On X, added that the company is seeking feedback from consumers.

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 for India.

Sarvam is one of a small but growing group of Indian startups trying to build homegrown alternatives to global artificial intelligence platforms as India seeks more control over its AI infrastructure.