<p class=”” data-start=”202″ data-end=”567″>Bhavish Aggarwal’s big AI pitch for Krutrim — his latest bet under Ola’s expanding tech umbrella — isn’t sitting well with everyone. In fact, it’s drawn sharp criticism from Aaditya Aanand, founder of multibagg.ai, who has publicly challenged Aggarwal’s claims and accused the platform of offering little more than “repackaged” tech under the guise of innovation.</p>
<p class=”” data-start=”569″ data-end=”832″>Aggarwal recently announced that Krutrim is now among “the world’s first” platforms to host Meta’s Llama 4 AI models on Indian servers. But Aanand, a former Goldman Sachs associate turned AI entrepreneur, dismissed the development as little more than showmanship.“After raising 280 million dollars, he is excited for hosting an open source model? An intern having a good PC with GPU can do it in their bedroom,” Aanand posted bluntly in response.</p>
<h3 class=”” data-start=”1021″ data-end=”1056″><span style=”color: #ba372a;”><strong data-start=”1025″ data-end=”1056″>Sovereignty Or Showmanship?</strong></span></h3>
<p class=”” data-start=”1058″ data-end=”1453″>Krutrim has positioned itself as a game-changer in India’s AI landscape, promising access to DeepSeek models with parameters scaling from 8 billion to 700 billion, and now adding Meta’s Llama 4 Scout and Maverick models. With token pricing between Rs 7 and Rs 17 per million, Aggarwal has framed this as a step toward “democratising access to cutting-edge AI for every Indian developer and startup.”</p>
<p class=”” data-start=”1455″ data-end=”1495″>In his LinkedIn post, Aggarwal stated: “This is a crucial step as true technological independence requires not just building our own models, but also creating the infrastructure ecosystem that lets Indian innovators build without compromise… This is how we build India’s AI future—by creating the foundation that lets our talent compete globally while keeping our digital sovereignty intact.”</p>
<p><iframe title=”Embedded post” src=”https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:share:7315443753891123201?collapsed=1″ width=”504″ height=”399″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”></iframe></p>
<p class=”” data-start=”1855″ data-end=”1917″>But Aanand wasn’t convinced by the sovereignty angle either. “Technological independence and digital sovereignty? Seriously? All he did was host someone else’s model on his own servers and pretending like he has put the Indian flag on the moon,” he said.</p>
<h3 class=”” data-start=”2115″ data-end=”2167″><span style=”color: #ba372a;”><strong data-start=”2119″ data-end=”2167″>‘Disruptive Pricing’? Not Quite, Says Critic</strong></span></h3>
<p class=”” data-start=”2169″ data-end=”2352″>Aanand also pushed back on Krutrim’s pricing model, calling it anything but disruptive. He pointed to cheaper alternatives already in the market, such as Gemini Flash and GPT 4o-mini. “Disruptive pricing? I think he hasn’t seen the pricing of Gemini Flash models or GPT 4o-mini. FYI, that’s less than Rs 10 per million tokens,” Aanand wrote. “Democratizing access to AI for Indian developers? As if Indian developers were waiting when Krutrim will host these models. Being delusional is the only solution for him.”</p>
<h3 class=”” data-start=”2686″ data-end=”2737″><span style=”color: #ba372a;”><strong data-start=”2690″ data-end=”2737″>‘Patriotic Chest Thumping Is No Innovation’</strong></span></h3>
<p class=”” data-start=”2739″ data-end=”2908″>Perhaps the strongest indictment came in Aanand’s critique of Krutrim’s overall pitch — which, according to him, lacks originality and genuine technological advancement. “The entire offering is just a repackaging. You are not building India’s future, you are just renting it locally. Patriotic chest thumping is no real innovation,” he said.</p>
<p class=”” data-start=”3085″ data-end=”3397″>Krutrim, positioned as India’s homegrown AI cloud infrastructure platform, continues to tout its ability to deliver powerful models hosted on Indian soil. But as criticism grows louder, questions remain over whether this is a foundational step toward self-reliance or just clever marketing in the age of AI hype.</p>
About The Author
