India is emerging as a hub for generative AI startups, with a new report by Nasscom revealing that the country is home to over 60 such companies. These startups have collectively raised $590 million in funding, with a significant portion of this funding ($475 million) being raised in 2021 alone. According to the report, Bengaluru is the leading city in terms of generative AI startups, with 45% of these startups based there. The city’s deeptech startup ecosystem, high-end innovation-driven institutions, extensive industry presence, and a growing number of domestic angel investors are seen as major attractions for generative AI startups. The Mumbai-Pune region accounts for the second-largest pool of these startups at 21%. This region is known for its well-established institutional investors, venture capitalists, and a diverse talent pool. The report also provides insights into the nature of these startups, with 74% being generative AI native and 26% having pivoted to generative AI. Additionally, 37% of the non-commercialized solutions developed by these startups are expected to find markets within a year. In terms of technology infrastructure, many Indian generative AI startups prefer a tech stack that includes public cloud and cloud-based databases, pre-trained models, and custom-built visualization tools. However, the report highlights some challenges that these startups face. Despite the significant amount of funding raised, big-ticket investments in native Indian foundational models and enterprise-grade application services are yet to happen. Furthermore, generative AI startups in India struggle with limited high-quality and ready-to-use training datasets and a lack of high-performance compute capacity at scale. Issues related to data privacy, security, ethical guidelines, and globally consistent generative AI usage standards also hinder growth in this sector. Nasscom executives, Sangeeta Gupta and Achyuta Ghosh, emphasize that upskilling a large workforce rapidly in 6-12 months remains a challenge for these startups. The report also sheds light on the overall AI startup ecosystem in India, revealing that $8 billion has been invested in this sector from 2013 to 2022, with $3.2 billion invested in 2022 alone. This investment has been made across 1,900 AI startups in the country. The report concludes with a link to the full article for readers to explore further details and insights on this topic.