Software needs to be free to access, modify, and redistribute to be called open source. Anything less can’t carry the label.

This matters right now because generative-AI company Sarvam will open-source its models built for the IndiaAI Mission, the government’s initiative to foster artificial intelligence development within the country. That means it will release its weights, or parameters that make AI models “smart”.

By referencing Chinese releases like Deepseek and Alibaba Group’s Qwen, open-source software isn’t just a nice thing to have, there are elements of soft power as well. AI models that are available for anyone to tinker with can win developer mindshare and become more prominent in tech stacks around the world. This makes it harder for closed systems to defend their territory.

But the people behind IndiaAI have little to say about software licensing even though there’s a need to define those norms, especially given the vast capital that’s being poured into the national programme.

The Ken’s Sumit Chakraborty explains in this edition of Make India Competitive Again, as narrated by Brady Ng.