New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has released three indigenous artificial intelligence foundation models — EKA-1, Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B — under the IndiaAI Mission, marking a step towards strengthening India's domestic AI capabilities. Unveiled in New Delhi on November 3, the models are developed by Bengaluru-based Soket Labs Technology and Research and ZenteiQ AiTech Innovations.
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ZenteiQ's Dhīr 2B and Dhīr 5B are compact, open-source multilingual models supporting English and 10 Indian languages. Designed for offline-capable deployment, they can run directly on mobile devices without cloud connectivity. Their applications include document-based automation, information retrieval and citizen or enterprise services, particularly in low-connectivity and sensitive environments.
Soket Labs' EKA-1 is a 26.3-billion-parameter foundation model trained on approximately 7.5 trillion tokens. It supports all 22 scheduled Indian languages and English, with capabilities in mathematics, coding, reasoning and agentic applications. The model can be deployed on private servers, private cloud infrastructure and air-gapped environments without external internet connectivity.
The models have potential applications across defence, cybersecurity, banking, government and industrial sectors, where data security and operational control are critical. On-device processing and secure, on-premise deployment can help organisations retain greater control over sensitive information while reducing dependence on external cloud services and foreign AI platforms.
MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan said that the models strengthen India's strategic autonomy in artificial intelligence and open opportunities for secure enterprise applications. The release came under the IndiaAI Mission's Innovation Centre pillar, which supports the development of indigenous foundation models. Their wider impact will depend on deployment, performance and adoption across real-world applications.
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