Krutrim vs. Sarvam AI’s OpenHathi vs. CoRover.ai

August 24, 2025

ChatGPT vs. Gemini

In 2025, Krutrim leads with its multilingual Kruti agent and sovereign AI stack; Sarvam AI advances Indian language LLMs like OpenHathi and Sarvam-M with government backing; CoRover AI powers BharatGPT—used by over a billion users in enterprise conversations. Each charts a unique Indian AI path.

1. India’s AI Landscape & Need for Indigenous Models

India’s AI market is projected to reach around USD 8 billion by 2025, with a growth rate exceeding 35–40% annually. This surge is driven by mobile-first digital behavior, massive vernacular content demand, and national ambitions for technological sovereignty. Unlike global AI leaders who optimize primarily for English, India requires models that function across 22 scheduled languages and hundreds of dialects. Startups like Krutrim, Sarvam AI, and CoRover AI have stepped in to address this gap, creating platforms uniquely suited to Indian contexts.


2. Krutrim: Ola’s Indian Agentic AI Vision

Overview
Krutrim was founded by Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal with the mission of building an India-first AI ecosystem. Its efforts span foundational language models, sovereign AI infrastructure, and consumer-facing products.

Core Technology & Agent
The company’s flagship product, Kruti, launched in 2025, is an agentic AI assistant capable of reasoning, planning, and executing tasks end-to-end. Users can book rides, pay bills, order food, or even generate content in multiple languages. Unlike traditional chatbots, Kruti works as a contextual agent with memory, supporting 13 Indian languages today and aiming for full coverage of 22.

LLM Infrastructure
Krutrim’s foundational model is trained on more than 2 trillion tokens. This large dataset allows it to outperform comparable global models in Indic tasks, offering context-rich, multilingual responses with high accuracy.

Strategic Growth
Krutrim is also building a sovereign AI cloud, ensuring India does not rely solely on foreign hyperscalers. Its acquisitions, like BharatSah’Aiy’ak, strengthen its position in governance and citizen services, ensuring deeper adoption beyond consumers.


3. Sarvam AI: Sovereign LLMs for India’s Linguistic Diversity

Founding Mission
Founded by AI experts Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, Sarvam AI’s vision is to develop sovereign, open, and India-focused generative AI models. Their focus lies in both scientific research and scalable enterprise deployment.

Model Highlights

  • OpenHathi: India’s first open-source Hindi LLM, benchmarked against global models.
  • Shuka 1.0: An audio-enabled Indian language LLM that handles speech-to-text and multilingual comprehension.
  • Sarvam 2B: A lightweight open-source model for developers.
  • Sarvam-M (24B): A powerful multilingual reasoning model for tasks spanning mathematics, programming, and complex Indic queries. It consistently outperforms many international peers in language-focused benchmarks.

Strategic Collaborations
Sarvam AI is the first private company to be formally included under the IndiaAI Mission, ensuring access to government compute power and datasets. Its models are increasingly being piloted in education, healthcare, and administrative systems.


4. CoRover AI: BharatGPT Meets Enterprise Messaging

Core Proposition
CoRover AI is best known for BharatGPT, a multilingual conversational AI designed for government and enterprise services. It powers customer service and engagement for sectors like travel, insurance, banking, and utilities.

Real-world Reach
CoRover has already touched over 1.3 billion users through its deployment with IRCTC, NPCI (UPI), LIC, and state-run platforms. Its USP lies in being an enterprise-first conversational AI, making it highly scalable and reliable for mission-critical applications.

Strategic Investment
In 2025, CoRover became the first Indian AI company to receive direct investment from a major private bank, signaling market confidence in BharatGPT’s ability to scale securely in regulated industries.


5. Comparative Overview: Capabilities & Trajectory

Company Strengths Focus Area Key Differentiator
Krutrim Sovereign infra, Kruti agent, multilingual LLM Consumer tasks, everyday productivity Agentic AI with task execution across apps
Sarvam AI Sovereign LLMs, gov’t backing, open-source Research, enterprise, education Open, Indic-first large models
CoRover AI Enterprise reach, BharatGPT deployment Banking, govt, customer services Conversational AI at population scale

6. Value Investing Perspective (2025)

  • Krutrim: High-risk, high-reward. Positioned as India’s flagship consumer-facing AI brand with heavy investment in sovereign infrastructure. Success depends on adoption of Kruti and long-term sustainability of its cloud model.
  • Sarvam AI: A balanced bet. Its open-source models and government partnership make it strategically important for India’s AI autonomy. Attractive for long-term, infrastructure-aligned investors.
  • CoRover: Lower-risk, enterprise-heavy play. Already monetizing AI at scale through secure contracts. Provides steady returns but less disruptive upside compared to Krutrim or Sarvam.

7. Future Outlook (2025–2030)

  • Consumer Agent Expansion: Krutrim could integrate into smartphones, ride-hailing, payments, and lifestyle apps, becoming India’s default digital agent.
  • Sovereign Infrastructure Growth: Sarvam AI will likely continue leading sovereign AI model development, powering government and enterprise applications.
  • Enterprise Deepening: CoRover will expand its reach further into BFSI, governance, and rural service delivery, embedding BharatGPT into citizen-facing apps.
  • Consolidation & Partnerships: Expect strategic collaborations or mergers, as India pushes for an end-to-end AI ecosystem aligned with national priorities.

8. Conclusion

Krutrim, Sarvam AI, and CoRover together define the three layers of India’s GenAI evolution:

  • Krutrim: Consumer-first, multilingual, agentic AI.
  • Sarvam AI: Sovereign LLM builder with open innovation and government integration.
  • CoRover AI: Enterprise-scale conversational AI trusted by banks, government, and utilities.

Together, these players position India not just as a consumer of global AI technologies but as a creator of culturally relevant, sovereign, and globally competitive AI ecosystems.

Author:

Strategy Boffins Team