Policy Update
Bhavana Girase
Background
India began its journey with High-Performance Computing (HPC) several decades back, but it was not a smooth beginning. Supercomputers and HPC systems were categorized as strategic and dual-use technologies by many developed nations, which limited the access of supercomputers to India. The first attempt to indigenously create supercomputing systems for research and development was the development of PARAM 8000, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
HPC has become a global foundation for scientific discovery, industrial innovation, and national development. In India, there have been significant deployments of HPC by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) for climate modeling, weather forecasting, ocean studies, and disaster preparedness.
In today’s fast-paced technological environment, optimization of computing through supercomputing is a powerful mechanism that enables scientists and researchers to solve complex problems that traditional computers cannot process efficiently. From analyzing large datasets to running parallel simulations, supercomputers are useful across many sectors and facets, including, but not limited to, climate modelling, drug discovery, aerospace engineering, and disaster management.
Considering the unlimited possibilities of the supercomputing space, the Government of India set up the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) in 2015. The National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) is a bold, visionary national mission to make India among the leaders in HPC internationally.
India has achieved a notable milestone with the installation of the Pratyush and Mihir supercomputers by the National Supercomputing Mission. This means that our country is now among the leading nations in computational power.
Key Highlights of National Supercomputing Mission for HPC
- Strategic Alignment with National Programs—Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat—to ensure indigenous development, self-reliance, and technology sovereignty.
- Mission Objectives—Build indigenous HPC capabilities, increase India’s global edge in HPC, support scientists, R&D, and industries, and address national and global grand challenge problems.
- R&D and Application Development—Focus on research in HPC technologies and development of applications tailored to national needs
- Human Resource Development (HRD)—Train skilled professionals to advance HPC research, usage, and innovation.
Functioning
The key components of HPC include the following:
- Supercomputers—Machines that contain thousands of CPUs and GPUs that are connected together and are capable of doing trillions of calculations per second.
- High-Speed Interconnects—A specialized network that transfers data rapidly between processing units.
- Storage Systems—Petabyte-scale storage manages the large volumes of data that simulations require and is used for analyses.
- Software Ecosystem—Advanced algorithms, operating systems, and workload managers maximize computing power.
The typical flow of work for an HPC system includes four phases:
Source: Created using Canva
- The operation of HPC systems is based on the concept of parallel processing, where tasks are subdivided into smaller units and executed simultaneously across multiple computing nodes. Large-scale computations take much less time than possible using traditional systems.
- Systems are interconnected in real-time through India’s National Knowledge Network (NKN), which permits researchers in India to access and share resources in a seamless manner.
- Additionally, the systems utilize AI and ML frameworks to expedite data assimilation, refine forecasting models, and analyze large-volume atmospheric data in real time.
- These machines serve as the computational engine for flagship programs like the National Monsoon Mission, Bharat Forecasting System, and Polar and Cryosphere Studies.
- These are positioned as a collaborative operation, involving multiple government ministries, universities, research institutes, and industry partners. This multi-stakeholder framework helps to maximize the varied computational demands of India’s scientific and industrial domains.
Performance
India has come a long way in the field of HPC, achieving an average utilization rate of over 85% for all systems deployed with 95% uptime, ensuring consistent performance.
Source: National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (2023). 30 Years of Excellence in Weather and Climate Modelling.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has set up two of the most powerful systems in the country:
- Pratyush (installed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune) – 4 petaflops.
- Mihir (installed at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Noida)—2.8 petaflops.
Both systems have significantly improved the ability to provide more reliable forecasts of Cyclones Fani and Amphan.
With the recent induction of Arka and Arunika, the Ministry has a total HPC capacity of 22 petaflops, which makes it one of the most powerful meteorological computing facilities in the world.
Source: All India Radio
Although Tarang has less computing capacity (1 PF) than the others, it shifts the paradigm with the AI-enabled processing power and a dedicated focus on ocean sciences.
With these systems, India implements more ensemble simulations, which are critical for reducing the uncertainty for forecasts and enabling quicker digital turnaround times for warnings for advisories, especially during extraordinarily quickly evolving extreme events.
Impacts
The impact of this type of high-performance infrastructure is already profound across critical sectors of Indian society.
1. Improved Forecast Accuracy—High-performance climate modelling leads to earlier and more precise warnings for:
- Agricultural Forecasts—Accurate warning for the monsoon size, timing, and moisture content in soil.
- Disaster Management—Early warning for heat waves, floods, and cyclones
- Renewable Energy Planning—Modeling of wind and solar to forecast energy production.
- Air Quality: Real-time pollution models, particularly in metropolitan regions.
Source: Department of Science and Technology (2016). NSM Achievements Book.
2. Tsunami and Ocean Services
Incorporating Tarang, INCOIS is now able to run high-resolution tsunami simulations and produce early warnings for coastal zones. In addition to coastal warnings, real-time prediction of ocean state has applications for naval and weather-based tourism, improved coastal tourism, and port activity.
3. Strategic Partnerships
Strengthening global outreach through collaboration with BIMSTEC countries and other initiatives .
4. Scientific and Societal Impact
- Accelerated R&D and enabled early warning systems and real-time predictive models.
- Built synergies and enhancements with national SDG priorities in healthcare, public safety, urban sustainability, and energy security.
5. Innovation and Indigenization
- Less reliance on imported HPC platforms and components.
- Enabled the design, development, and manufacture of significant hardware and software within India.
6. Economic and Employment Benefits
- Created significant employment opportunities in high-skill HPC hardware/software jobs.
- Created innovation hubs and national capacity in academia and industry.
- Contributed to India’s digital economy and the high-tech manufacturing sector.
Emerging Issues
- Infrastructure Maintenance: Supercomputers demand a lot of resources for upkeep, including hardware upgrades/replacement, software upgrades, and cooling, all of which add considerable expense and complexity, often both financial and technical.
- Level of Awareness and Engagement: Many potential HPC users do not fully grasp the potential of supercomputing, and there is a great need to better articulate its applications across the full spectrum of its availability.
- Funding and Policy: Funding should flow freely in support of continued innovation and should be right on time and on the money, while government policies to handle evolving data security and privacy protocols, especially for cloud-based HPC systems, should be intensified.
- International Competition: India needs to savvily keep pace with the quickly evolving innovation opportunities that exist globally, especially with its dependence on foreign vendors for services and products.
- Supply Chain Risks: The pandemic and war have identified our vulnerabilities in the supply of hardware and software.
Way Forward
In order to derive the maximum value from these systems, India must move in the following directions:
1. Journey to Exascale Computing: India should begin planning for Exascale capacity (greater than 1,000 PF) in the next decade. Heeding current accomplishments will future-proof our Earth system science, as well as lead in global climate modeling.
2. Strengthening the Bharat Forecasting System: The Bharat Forecasting System (BFS), which becomes fully operational in 2025, has shown improved forecasts but now needs enhancement in land-surface modeling, hydrology, and urban climate forecasting.
3. Deepening AI/ML Research: We need AI/ML that is aware of the domain. Therefore, build upon the existing AI systems mixed with ML, not only turbocharging forecasts but also tagging topical readings, e.g., explaining a complex process such as monsoon breaks, Arctic ice loss, or El Niño impacts.
4. Democratizing Forecasting: We need to have mobile applications and multilingual SMS text alerts and a low-data solution for farmers and fishers. Leverage AI to enable personalized forecast dissemination based on geography, livelihood, and risk profile.
5. Mission Mode: Speed to market, sustained funding, and high-level policy orders to ensure strict implementation.
6. Technology Roadmap: Investigate future areas of HPC like quantum computing, neuromorphic systems, and green HPC.
7. Global Leadership: Position India in the top 5 HPC countries in the world in terms of compute capacity and indigenous capability by 2047.
8. Sustainable & Inclusive Growth: Outreach to Tier-2/3 cities, promote gender equity in HPC access, and align HPC activity with SDG targets.
Conclusion
High-performance computing represents transformational technology that drives advancement in science, industry, and governance. For India, the Ministry of Earth Sciences and National Supercomputing Mission provide a firm foundation, but continuous investment in indigenous hardware, integration with AI, and skills development is crucial. As the global research transits to exascale and quantum development, HPC will continue to fuel the drive for innovation, sustainability, and national growth. As India continues to develop its investments in technology, talent, and outreach, India is well on the path to becoming a global leader in Earth system science.
References
National Supercomputing Mission India. Annual Report 2025. https://nsmindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/NSM-AR-book-design-02425_updated_11zon.pdf
National Supercomputing Mission India. Annual Report 2025. https://nsmindia.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/NSM_Impact_assessment_20241126-IIPA.pdf
Department of Science and Technology (2016). NSM Achievements Book. https://dst.gov.in/sites/default/files/NSM%20Achievements%20book%20design%2016725.pdf
Press Information Bureau (2025). Press Release: National Supercomputing Mission Updates. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2059176
Press Information Bureau (2018). Press Release: New HPC Facility. Inaugurated https://www.pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=186698
Ministry of Earth Sciences (2024). New HPC Facility Report. https://www.moes.gov.in/sites/default/files/New_HPC_facility.pdf
National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (2024). Annual Report 2023-24. https://nwp.ncmrwf.gov.in/Documents/annual-reports-pdf/NCMRWF_AnnualReport_2023-2024.pdf
National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (2023). 30 Years of Excellence in Weather and Climate Modelling https://nwp.ncmrwf.gov.in/publication/NCMRWF_30years_Excellence.pdf
About the Contributor
Bhavana Girase is a Research Intern at Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI). A data and policy research enthusiast, with a background in UPSC preparation and focusing on turning complex data into interpretative insights for a better understanding of policies.
Acknowledgement
The author sincerely thanks Ms.Aasthaba Jadeja and the IMPRI team for their valuable support and guidance.
Disclaimer
All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
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