MeitY Secretary Launches ‘Param Shakti’ Supercomputing Facility at IIT Madras
Chennai | January 8, 2026:
In a major boost to India’s self-reliance in high-performance computing, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Shri S. Krishnan, launched ‘Param Shakti’, a 3.1 Petaflop indigenous supercomputing facility at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras).
The facility hosts the PARAM RUDRA supercomputing system, developed and manufactured entirely in India using C-DAC’s RUDRA series servers. It operates on open-source software, including AlmaLinux and an indigenously designed system software stack by C-DAC, reinforcing the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat in advanced computing technologies.
With the capability to perform over 3.1 quadrillion calculations per second, Param Shakti ranks among the most powerful academic supercomputing facilities in the country. This computational strength will significantly accelerate research in aerospace engineering, materials science, climate modelling, drug discovery, nuclear sciences, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence.
The system has been designed, developed, and implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and funded under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), jointly led by MeitY and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Along with the supercomputing cluster, the facility includes advanced infrastructure for 24×7 power supply, cooling systems, and data-centre operations.
The facility was inaugurated on 3 January 2026 in the presence of Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Shri E. Magesh, Director General, C-DAC, senior MeitY officials, faculty members, and students.
Addressing students and researchers, Shri S. Krishnan highlighted IIT Madras’ growing interdisciplinary research culture and said the National Supercomputing Mission is supporting application-driven projects at scale, with 37 supercomputers already deployed nationwide and more in the pipeline, including a flagship system planned for Bengaluru.
He also emphasized the IndiaAI Mission’s approach of enabling access to multiple GPU architectures, ensuring technological resilience and avoiding dependency on a single platform.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. V. Kamakoti outlined MeitY’s long-standing role in strengthening India’s digital and computing ecosystem, including initiatives such as the National Knowledge Network. He urged students to develop energy-efficient, secure, and scalable computing codes, and stressed the need for indigenous development across critical technology domains.
Shri E. Magesh, Director General, C-DAC, traced the evolution of the RUDRA platform and encouraged wider adoption of indigenous high-performance computing systems.
Prof. G. Phanikumar, Chairman, Computer Centre, IIT Madras, highlighted MicroSim, a multi-GPU solver suite developed under NSM support, now open-sourced and among the fastest globally in its category.
Operational since May 2025, the PARAM SHAKTI facility has already recorded over 80% utilisation, reflecting strong research demand. With a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.2–1.4, the facility also sets benchmarks in energy-efficient computing infrastructure.
The launch of Param Shakti marks a significant milestone in India’s journey towards exascale computing, strengthening the national research ecosystem and enabling globally competitive, indigenous computational solutions.
