New Delhi, July 31: IBM and homegrown AI startup Sarvam have partnered to accelerate the development and adoption of sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in India, with a focus on government agencies, public sector organisations and regulated enterprises, according to a statement on Friday.

Under the partnership, the two companies will jointly demonstrate and pilot sovereign AI technologies for use cases such as citizen services, grievance redressal, document processing and administrative workflows.

The collaboration combines IBM Sovereign Core, the company’s sovereign-by-design AI software platform, with Sarvam’s India-first sovereign AI stack, which includes reasoning models and multilingual language and voice AI developed and trained in India.

The combined offering is designed to help organisations deploy AI while maintaining greater control over data, governance, security and compliance in line with India’s regulatory and operational requirements.

In addition, the initiative aims to accelerate sovereign AI adoption through innovation pilots, solution accelerators, technical advisory services and knowledge-sharing programmes.

The IBM GovTech AI Innovation Center in Lucknow will serve as a joint incubation and demonstration hub where government departments, public sector organisations and enterprises can evaluate practical sovereign AI applications and address technical, operational and governance requirements before scaling deployments.

“Sovereign AI is not simply about where AI runs. It is about giving organisations control over how AI is governed, deployed and operated,” said Sriram Raghavan, General Manager, IBM Software, India and Software Innovation Lab.

He said IBM Sovereign Core provides an enterprise-grade platform designed to help governments and regulated enterprises scale AI while addressing governance, security and compliance requirements.

Pratyush Kumar, Co-Founder of Sarvam, said sovereign AI must work within the systems governments and enterprises already rely on while supporting large-scale operations.

“Our stack puts models, voice and language technologies on top of it, so a citizen can access a benefit or resolve a grievance in their own language, on a phone call,” Kumar said.

Mumbai, July 30: Domestic equity benchmarks opened on a subdued note on Thursday amid mixed global cues, as gains in information technology and pharma stocks were offset by weakness in banking and realty shares.

Sensex opened at 77,638.86, down 15.74 points or 0.02 per cent, while Nifty opened at 24,249.55, lower by 0.65 points.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty IT was the top gainer, rising 1.39 per cent, followed by Nifty Pharma, Nifty Healthcare, Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom, and Nifty Auto, which gained up to 0.54 per cent.

In contrast, Nifty Realty declined 0.80 per cent, followed by Nifty Chemicals, which was down 0.45 per cent, while Nifty Private Bank fell 0.42 per cent.

According to market experts, the Indian market continues to indicate a potential breakout trend, although several global headwinds are limiting the upside momentum.

“The spike in Brent crude prices to near $90 following the escalation of the US-Iran conflict is a strong headwind for markets,” they said.

Experts noted that the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged, though widely expected, turned out to be negative for equities as the decision was split 9-3, with three members voting for a rate hike to curb inflation.

However, they believe the Indian market could remain relatively resilient.

Weakness in global chip stocks has prompted foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to shift allocations, with FPIs turning net buyers in Indian equities so far in July.

Brent crude — the international oil benchmark — declined 1.75 per cent to $89.15 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 1.47 per cent to $83.21 per barrel.

Asian stocks traded mixed. Major indices such as the Nikkei, Hang Seng, and KOSPI were up 0.72 per cent, down 0.02 per cent, and lower by 0.57 per cent, respectively.

US stocks ended lower, with the S&P 500 declining 1.52 per cent, while the Nasdaq ended down 1.74 per cent.

Mumbai, July 29: Indian equity markets opened sharply higher on Wednesday, with the benchmark indices gaining nearly 1 per cent each as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision.

Sensex opened at 77,423.77, up 657.85 points or 0.86 per cent, while the Nifty started at 24,176.65, rising 191.30 points or 0.80 per cent.

Sector-wise, most indices traded in the green in early deals, led by Nifty IT which jumped over 2 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom gained 1 per cent, followed by Nifty Chemicals (0.99 per cent) and Nifty FMCG (0.81 per cent).

On the downside, Nifty Realty fell 0.39 per cent, while Nifty Oil & Gas slipped 0.15 per cent.

Analysts said global markets remained mixed ahead of the Fed’s policy decision and key corporate earnings, while higher Brent crude prices amid renewed geopolitical tensions could keep commodity prices volatile.

They said the market’s current range-bound trend is likely to break on the upside, supported by fairly valued Nifty stocks, though sustained FII buying would depend on greater clarity over crude oil prices and the progress of the monsoon.

The Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, a move that is already priced into Indian markets and is therefore unlikely to trigger a significant reaction, analysts added.

Additionally, Brent crude rose 4.85 per cent to $88.17 per barrel, while US WTI crude gained 5 per cent to $83.30 per barrel.

Asian markets traded mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei down 2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up over 1 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI falling nearly 9 per cent.

Wall Street ended mixed overnight, with S&P 500 gaining 0.21 per cent while the Nasdaq slipped 0.22 per cent.