Ghost of the Machine: India’s Quantum Ambitions Confront Hardware Limits, Lead Physicist Persists

Insider Brief:
- India has developed a comprehensive quantum strategy through its National Quantum Mission, integrating research, workforce training, and commercial efforts.
- The country still lacks a domestically built quantum computer, exposing it to hardware export controls and limiting its autonomy in the global quantum landscape.
- Physicist Rajamani Vijayaraghavan’s lab at TIFR leads a key indigenous effort, but faces delays due to procurement rules, funding bottlenecks, and administrative hurdles.
- India’s ability to lead in quantum will depend on building domestic hardware, improving research infrastructure, and retaining talent through stronger industry-academic partnerships.
- Image Credit: Quantum Measurement and Control Laboratory, TIFR
India has a mature quantum strategy, one to be lauded for its deliberate integration of academic research and commercial efforts. The National Quantum Mission, launched in 2023, builds on earlier government efforts by formalizing the network of Thematic Hubs and expanding access to funding. The strategy also includes provisions to ensure workforce development aligns with evolving industry needs. Unlike solely siloed academic approaches, India’s model is structured to create institutional pipelines for hands-on training.
Hardware Gap as a Structural Limitation
Despite this clear demonstration of foresight, what India doesn’t have is a fully operational, domestically-built quantum computer. And in the developing international quantum ecosystem, that absence is increasingly more than inconvenient—it’s a structural risk. Without in-country hardware, India remains dependent on global supply chains which are increasingly subject to a growing set of export controls and trade restrictions from dominant quantum powers.
India–Taiwan Collaboration as a Strategic Alternative
As highlighted in a recent Observer Research Foundation report, India and Taiwan—two democratic, tech-driven economies with growing quantum ambitions—may be well suited to bypass these limitations through cooperation. Taiwan has committed over $259 million to its national quantum program, launched in 2022. It already has its own five-qubit superconducting quantum computer and recently acquired additional systems from Finnish hardware vendor IQM. India’s NQM, while larger in scale with $730 million committed, has yet to deliver its first domestic quantum machine.
The ORF report argues that deeper India-Taiwan collaboration could help both countries sidestep barriers. “The myriad of export controls implemented by the field’s leading countries… constitute India’s biggest obstacles to international collaboration in QT,” writes Prateek Tripathi, a junior fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at ORF. In that context, Taiwan, which has proven willing to collaborate and sits outside the most restrictive Western technology areas, is more than an appealing partner.
Still, the absence of India’s domestic quantum computer does not signal an absence of effort. Building such a device requires years of research, stable infrastructure, funding continuity, and freedom to operate—conditions that have only recently begun to take shape in India. One of the most significant efforts in this direction is underway in South Mumbai, where physicist Rajamani Vijayaraghavan is quietly leading an indigenous project at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
A Lab in Mumbai, A Decade in the Making
As reported by Outlook Business, Vijayaraghavan began working with superconducting circuits more than a decade ago, long before the term “quantum computing” found its way into popular discourse. His lab, now home to a six-qubit superconducting system, is essential to India’s national efforts. The project is supported by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, with Tata Consultancy Services having built the web interface for remote access. The system completed end-to-end testing in 2023 and is now undergoing final optimization before public release.
“The final technology is not yet fully developed, which means we have an opportunity to catch up if we invest and move research in the right direction,” said Vijayaraghavan in the interview.
A Lack of Financial Autonomy, Procurement Bottlenecks
Still, progress has been uneven. Although the National Quantum Mission has begun funding select projects, full financial approvals are still pending. Vijayaraghavan’s team, for instance, is waiting on key funding expected to be released this April. In the meantime, new procurement rules have made spending even approved funds more difficult.
“We no longer receive actual money in our institute’s bank account,” he said. Instead, researchers are assigned a spending limit, and each transaction must be routed through a government system that includes approvals at multiple levels. “Funds are released from the Reserve Bank of India and trickle down through the system. It’s been a struggle figuring it out.”
This administrative rigidity extends to procurement as well. Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat policy, researchers must justify imported scientific equipment above Rs 5 lakh (approx. $6,000 USD). The policy requires proving that no Indian-made alternative exists—an issue in quantum research, where most high-precision components are not available domestically. “Most tools are not manufactured in India, yet we are required to prove their unavailability every time we make a purchase,” he said.
Vijayaraghavan also notes how these delays cascade into lost momentum. The earlier Quantum Enabled Science and Technology program, launched in 2017, faced similar lags. Although Rs 200 crore was allocated, much of the funding didn’t reach researchers until 2020—by which time the pandemic had already slowed global shipments and shuttered many labs.
Even when funding has improved on paper, researchers find themselves entangled in new systems like the Government e-Marketplace, which was designed to increase transparency but often lacks listings for specialized lab equipment. “We spend enormous amounts of time navigating the system, only to eventually seek special approvals when it fails to meet our needs,” he added.
Despite these constraints, India’s quantum ecosystem is evolving. When Vijayaraghavan started in 2012, no other labs in India were working on superconducting qubits. Now, there are at least five such labs, and more are beginning to experiment with alternative platforms. Still, cost remains a barrier. “Back then, my lab required about a million dollars. Now, if you start from scratch, it could cost close to $5 million,” he said.
This financial ceiling has kept many would-be quantum labs from taking off. Even among existing labs, retaining talent remains a challenge. “If I train someone and they become invaluable within a year, global institutions will make them better offers,” Vijayaraghavan said. Competitive salaries are part of the issue, but equally important is creating an environment where researchers can see a future in India.
He believes greater industry involvement could help. While academia is bound by salary caps and bureaucratic constraints, startups and private companies are more flexible. Government investment can provide the foundation, but long-term sustainability will likely depend on partnerships across the public and private sectors.
Where Leadership Begins
India’s quantum future, then, may depend less on whether it catches up in headline attributions, and more on whether it can deliver the infrastructure and autonomy needed to sustain meaningful progress—hardware included. As the field matures globally, India’s opportunity goes beyond participation to selectively leading where it can. And that begins with building the machine.