UP’s ₹25,000 crore Puch AI MoU faces scrutiny over startup credentials| India Information
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s announcement of a ₹25,000 crore memorandum of understanding (MoU) with synthetic intelligence (AI) startup Puch AI has drawn sharp on-line criticism over the corporate’s credentials, prompting clarifications from each side and an outlined due diligence course of from the state’s funding arm.
“Puch AI had given a proposal to us on Friday, and we signed a non-binding MoU with them on Monday. We’ve got requested them to submit due diligence paperwork they usually have been given three days to take action. In the event that they cross this due diligence course of, we’ll go forward with them; in any other case, we’ll cancel the MoU,” Make investments UP CEO Vijay Kiran Anand advised HT.
Describing the corporate as a bootstrapped startup, Anand stated the ₹25,000 crore determine represents non-public funding that Puch AI would mobilise via its traders. “Our job is to facilitate when it comes to land, coverage help, ecosystem-based help, manpower and clearances,” he stated. The federal government has earmarked land for an AI metropolis and AI park, with the expectation that different corporations may be a part of the ecosystem.
Bhatia, individually, stated the corporate is “well-funded” and never bootstrapped, whereas declining to share monetary particulars. On the funding itself, he confirmed the construction as a public-private partnership. “It doesn’t contain any value to the taxpayers of Uttar Pradesh. Quite the opposite, it brings funding into the state. The mission will probably be executed in phases, with help from exterior funding companions. We’ve got not taken any cash, any GPUs, or some other type of help from the Authorities,” he stated.
Based roughly a yr in the past, Puch AI provides a voice-first AI service through WhatsApp. Critics within the tech neighborhood dismissed the product as a “wrapper” constructed atop current AI fashions, pointing particularly to Google’s Gemma household. Bhatia acknowledged the corporate doesn’t have its personal foundational mannequin, however stated it has constructed its infrastructure on open-source fashions tailor-made for Indian customers, moderately than counting on industrial APIs from corporations resembling OpenAI or Anthropic.
Assistant professor of laptop science at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Danish Pruthi, advised HT, “There aren’t any open-source fashions, no blogs, no studies, no publications—nothing that might be verified or audited by impartial events.”
Pruthi additionally stated the corporate had “completely no expertise or experience in constructing information centres or organising universities,” and pointed to what he described as “viral advertising stunts”—together with being a top-tier sponsor for Lionel Messi’s India tour and bidding to accumulate Perplexity.
Adityanath had introduced the MoU on X on Monday, positioning it as a push to construct AI infrastructure, together with AI parks, information centres, an AI Commons and an AI College. He subsequently clarified that such agreements are preliminary. “An MoU by Make investments UP is a preliminary step earlier than detailed due diligence and mission analysis will get accomplished… MoUs are non-binding on the State Authorities,” he stated, including that proposals might be terminated in the event that they fall brief.
Bhatia, who has met senior Union ministers together with defence minister Rajnath Singh and commerce minister Piyush Goyal earlier this month, has been actively constructing the corporate’s public profile. In August 2025, following OpenAI’s growth into India, he posted a Instances Sq. message addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Why applaud OpenAI increasing in India? Let’s have fun Puch AI coming to New York,” alongside the hashtag #AatmaNirbharBharat.
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