HCLTech shares surged 3 per cent on Tuesday, June 16, to Rs 1,150 per share after the IT giant announced its purchase of a minority stake in Axonwise Private Limited (Sarvam AI), India’s full-stack sovereign
AI company at a cost of Rs 1,427.25 crore.
HCLTech will be expecting to hold 41,421 equity shares for 10.46 per cent stake in Sarvam AI once the deal is concluded.
Sarvam AI is building the bedrock of Sovereign AI for India. The company is developing India’s full-stack Sovereign AI platform across research, models, infrastructure, and applications, built to advance AI for all of India.
Sarvam AI has raised $234 million in the first close of its $300 million Series B at a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion. HCLTech and Bessemer Venture Partners invested in the round, with continued support from existing investors Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners.
The stock opened at Rs 1,141 and touched an intraday high of Rs 1,161.50, remaining close to its 52-week low of Rs 1,089.50. HCLTech currently commands a market capitalisation of Rs 3.11 lakh crore and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74.
“We are clear that research-led innovation to create AI that works at India’s scale is a very large opportunity. That means models that understand our voices, read our documents, and serve intelligence at a cost every enterprise and government can afford. Building on this template, we are innovating on a full-stack offering for enterprises to own and operate their own sovereign AI,” said Pratyush Kumar, Co-Founder of Sarvam.
