India Releases Technology Engagement Strategy for Quantum, Ambitions Meet Hardware Realities

Insider Brief:

• India’s first National Quantum Mission report highlights strong progress in quantum software and communication but emphasizes gaps in domestic quantum hardware fabrication, industrial investment, and workforce development.

• Startups like QPiAI and QNu Labs are advancing quantum computing and secure communications, but India remains heavily reliant on foreign hardware and suffers from limited institutional funding.

• To strengthen its position, India plans to expand local fabrication capabilities, improve regulatory frameworks, and support deep-tech startups through new funding initiatives.

Quantum technology demands a multi-pronged approach—balancing the need to secure infrastructure, invest in talent, and scale hardware—all while navigating geopolitical and economic constraints. For countries like India, where hardware remains largely dependent on foreign fabrication, efforts to develop a self-reliant quantum ecosystem are entangled with broader questions of industrial capacity and strategic alignment.

In 2023, India launched its National Quantum Mission, a not-so-trivial eight-year initiative supported by approximately $750 million, with the goal of developing the country into a global leader in quantum science and technology. This month, the mission released its first major assessment, India’s International Technology Engagement Strategy for Quantum Science, Technology and Innovation, evaluating the nation’s progress in quantum computing, communication, sensing and metrology, and materials and devices.

Software Strength, Hardware Gaps

According to a release from Physics World, the report evaluates India’s current strengths in quantum software and algorithm development, while identifying opportunities for improvement in hardware, security, and industry engagement. While the government has taken steps to encourage research and commercial activity, especially through its support for early-stage startups, the overall quantum ecosystem in India remains fragmented, with limited manufacturing capability and modest participation from private capital.

Consider Bengaluru-based startup QPiAI, which recently announced the development of “Indus,” a 25-superconducting-qubit quantum computer. While the announcement was a significant event in India’s hardware journey (plus, announced on World Quantum Day, making it all the more poetic), the qubits were fabricated abroad, bringing to light a dependence that the NQM aims to eliminate.

Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, noted in Physics World that while India is strong in “software-centric, theoretical and algorithmic aspects of quantum computing,” its efforts in hardware are “at a nascent stage.” Few groups in India have built systems beyond the 10-qubit level, and entirely indigenous fabrication remains a dream not yet realized.

Superconducting qubits require precision fabrication at cryogenic temperatures, as well as advanced microwave electronics and shielding systems. India does not currently have the full-stack infrastructure needed to produce and scale these systems domestically. The report calls for immediate investment in this area, including facilities for qubit fabrication, device testing, and cryogenics, which are necessary for both quantum computing and quantum communication networks.

Strong Signals Left Wanting of Support

Beyond computing, India is also making progress in quantum communication and sensing. QNu Labs, another Bengaluru-based firm supported under the NQM umbrella, is developing a quantum-safe communication chip designed to secure satellite and drone communications using built-in quantum randomness and a layered security micro-stack. The government is also pursuing secure satellite-based quantum key distribution and new metrology systems with quantum-enhanced precision.

Yet these advances exist alongside persistent structural challenges. As noted in the report, India lags behind in hardware-related industrial investment, with most funding coming from angel investors and little engagement from institutional capital or large technology firms. Arindam Ghosh, who leads the Quantum Technology Initiative at the Indian Institute of Science, pointed out in Physics World that “in spite of [a] very large number of quantum-educated graduates, the human resource involved in developing quantum technologies is abysmally small.” This shortage has meant entire subfields of quantum technology remain unexplored or underdeveloped in India.

Building Resilience Through Regulation and Investment

The regulatory infrastructure required to protect any emerging quantum technologies is also noted as underdeveloped. As India’s financial services sector begins exploring quantum-enhanced applications, such as secure transactions, fraud detection, and quantum risk modeling, the report warns of the need for post-quantum cryptography standards and a clearer national security strategy. Sood emphasized that “our cyber infrastructure, especially related to our financial systems, power grids, and transport systems, need[s] to be urgently protected” with both PQC and QKD approaches.

To address all of the aforementioned gaps, the report outlines several priorities:

• expanding quantum hardware capabilities through local fabrication,

• improving industrial testing facilities,

• supporting deep-tech startups through public-private mechanisms,

• and promoting India as a future manufacturer and exporter of key quantum components such as single-photon detectors, quantum repeaters, and cryogenic electronics.

In addition to the original financial commitment under the NQM, Sood also higlighted a recently announced $1.2 billion fund intended to support deep-tech (not just quantum) startups in India. These efforts are synonymous in that they are designed to reduce the bureaucratic bottlenecks that have historically slowed India’s science and technology programs. According to Sood, such measures represent “every reason to believe that India would emerge even stronger in the field,” though he concedes that substantial execution challenges remain.

As global competition in quantum technologies continues along it’s forward trajectory, India’s quantum strategy, an undeniably complex mix of ambition, capability, and constraint, is surely a microcosm of what it takes to build a sovereign presence in an interdependent, entangled field.