The world is probably still coming to terms with the latest, most mind-boggling development in the quantum world — Google’s Willow chip, a quantum processor that paves way for ‘large-scale’ quantum computers. Hartmut Neven, founder and lead, Google Quantum AI, says Willow has been shown to perform in five minutes computing that the fastest classical computer will take ‘1 followed by 25 zeros’ number of years. 

That’s a head-spinner. 

Where is India in quantum computing? Well, certainly considerably behind the leaders. 

Qubit power 

Today, India has a small-scale quantum computer at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), which is a 7-qubit machine. 

Qubits are the information holders in a quantum computer, just like transistors in a classical computer. In a classical computer, the ‘off’ and ‘on’ states of the transistors represent 0 and 1; any information is encoded in terms of 0s and 1s. 

There are many types of qubits — energy levels of atoms, spin of a particle, polarisation of a photon, and superconducting circuits. Qubits can exist in more than one state (superposition) and can be ‘entangled’ so that the state of one qubit affects the state of another — a useful property. 

A 7-qubit quantum computer is a good start. A Bengaluru-based startup, QPiAI is developing a 25–qubit quantum computer, which is also small-scale. 

Under the National Quantum Mission, India aims to develop intermediate-scale quantum computers of 50-1,000 qubits — still in the category of ‘noisy’, less powerful and more error-prone. 

Thus, in terms of quantum computing, India is somewhat behind the US and China, which have intermediate-scale quantum computers, but not far behind the European Union, Japan and Australia. 

Startup momentum

Computing is only one of the many applications of quantum technology; others include communication and sensing. 

You can apply quantum technology in cryptography to transmit data safely. You can make medical devices that are more accurate. In these areas, an ecosystem is rapidly evolving in India. 

Recently, the government picked eight ‘pioneering startups’ in quantum computing for grants under the National Quantum Mission, from among 108 applications. The rest may be considered during the subsequent rounds of assessments. That there are more than 100 startups already in this field indicates the vibrancy of the emerging quantum ecosystem in India. Many of them started off without expectation of support from the mission. 

The mission, conceived four years ago, was slow to get off the ground. However, it gathered momentum on August 19, 2023, when the Cabinet approved and fertilised it with a budget of ₹6,003 crore for 2023-24 to 2030-31. In January this year, the mission governing board was set up. 

In its first meeting, it decided to issue a ‘request for proposal’ (RFP) to set up four thematic hubs, and these were finalised a few months ago. The hubs have come up at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru for quantum computing; IIT-Madras for quantum communications, IIT-Bombay for quantum sensing and metrology; and IIT-Delhi for quantum materials and devices. 

There is also the Quantum Technology Foundation (QTF) at IISER-Pune, under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems. These hubs support about 80 institutional ‘spokes’ across the country. Entrepreneurship development is one of the major mandates of the hubs. The mission is now working with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulator for technical colleges, to launch BTech and MSc programmes in quantum technology. 

Funding support

With financial support from the mission and other help from the hubs, the startups are expected to blossom. Typically, government cash handouts range from a few tens of lakhs to low-crore rupees, but it is different under the NQM. “We have created a generous scheme where selected startups could get up to ₹25 crore,” says Dr Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman of NQM’s mission governing board. 

Bengaluru-based QNu Labs will receive ₹25 crore. Sunil Gupta, co-founder and CEO of QNu Labs, says the investment “has come at the right time and will accelerate our journey of becoming a global leader in quantum communication”. 

The startup intends “to build and deploy the world’s first end-to-end quantum network encompassing data security technologies”. 

Its three products — quantum key distribution, random number generator, and cryptography — have many overseas customers. In March 2024, it opened an office in the US to service the American market. 

Quanastra, another recipient of investments, makes superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. IIT Delhi-incubated PrenishQ makes ultrahigh-vacuum chambers and narrow line-width lasers for quantum computers. Pristine Diamonds of Ahmedabad is making diamond materials for quantum sensors for accurate measurements of magnetic and electrical fields, temperature, pressure and time. This finds use in medical imaging, navigation, material science and environment monitoring. 

In a recent speech, Science Minister Jitendra Singh said India is “determined to lead this global revolution”. 

You may either agree with the minister or call his statement hyperbole. But there is enough evidence to conclude that India is not a laggard in quantum technology.