Context: India has produced just three supercomputers since 2015 —less than one a year on average — under the National Supercomputer Mission (NSM),according to information obtained under the Right to Information Act from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
History of Supercomputers in India

• India's supercomputer program was started in late 1980s because Cray supercomputers could not be imported into India due to an arms embargo imposed on India, as it was a dual-use technology and could be used for developing nuclear weapons.
• This led to setting up the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in March 1988 with the clear mandate to develop an indigenous supercomputer to meet high-speed computational needs.
• PARAM 8000, considered to be India’s first supercomputer was indigenously built in 1991 by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
• Presently, Pratyush, a Cray XC40 system - an array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops, installed at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, is the fastest supercomputer in India. Launched in January 2018, it is the fourth fastest High Performance Computer (HPC) dedicated to climate modelling in the world.

About National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

• National Supercomputing Mission, approved in 2016, is being implemented and steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
• The Mission envisages empowering national academic and R&D institutions spread over the country by installing a vast supercomputing grid comprising of more than 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the National Knowledge Network (NKN). The NKN is another programme of the government which connects academic institutions and R&D labs over a high speed network.
• The Mission includes development of highly professional High Performance Computing (HPC) aware human resource for meeting challenges of development of these applications.

About Progress of NSM

• The NSM envisaged setting up a network of 70 high-performance computing facilities.
• These were to be installed at many of India’s top academic institutions and scientific establishments like IITs, the Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research (IISERs), National Institute of Technology (NITs) among others. 
• It was also an effort to improve the number of supercomputers owned by India viz-a-viz the global leaders.
• The MeitY and DST handle the National Supercomputer Mission, and the mission’s nodal agencies are the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• “In the initial years, funds were limited and the mission was making slow progress. That has improved now and the mission has gathered momentum now with government support.
• NSM’s first supercomputer named Param Shivay has been installed in IIT-BHU, Varanasi, in 2019. It has 837 TeraFlop High-Performance Computing (HPC) capacity.
• The second supercomputer with a capacity of 1.66 PetaFlop has been installed at IIT-Kharagpur.
• The third system, Param Brahma, has been installed at IISER-Pune, which has a capacity of 797 TeraFlop.

Incomplete Utilization of Funds allocated to NSM

• The NSM envisaged setting up a network of 70 high-performance computing facilities in the country but skewed funding for the mission during the initial years slowed down the overall pace of building supercomputers.
• Only 16.67 % of the total budget of Rs 4,500 crore, has been utilised during the last four-and-a-half years for execution of the mission.

Global Scenario

• Globally, China continues to lead the supercomputer race. It added eight more supercomputers in the last six months taking its existing numbers to 227. 
• This giant leap helped China retain its top position, followed by the US (119 supercomputers), as per the TOP500 report of November 2019.
• Other countries in this league are Japan (29), France (18), Germany (16), The Netherlands (15), Ireland (14) and the United Kingdom (11). All other countries, including India, own only one top performing supercomputer.

India next move in this mission

• “There will soon be 11 supercomputers; expected to be installed by 2020 or latest by March 2021. All will be indigenously manufactured.
• Three supercomputers are expected to be installed in the near future, one each in IIT-Kanpur; Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru and IIT-Hyderabad.

Road Ahead

• Over the years, supercomputers have benefitted mankind in several ways. Weather prediction has reached accuracy of forecast as well as real time tracking of natural phenomenon. Timely warning of cyclones in the recent past have saved many lives and property. The Mission aims to further such capabilities beyond current levels.
• High-performance computing is important if India wants to make significant progress in areas like weather forecasting, drug discovery, astrophysics and bioinformatics.
• Favourable environment and funding in the field of science and technology will not only cut down India’s dependence on foreign imports but will also bolster its goal of Make in India.
• Developing indigenous facilities will ensure that applications are tailored to address problems that are specific to India.