Overview
- CM Yogi Adityanath announced the ₹25,000 crore agreement with Bengaluru startup Puch AI on Monday to build AI parks, large data centres, an AI Commons platform and an AI university.
- Following Tuesday’s online backlash and opposition criticism, the CM said the MoU is only a preliminary step and will be terminated if the proposal fails evaluation.
- Invest UP chief Vijay Kiran Anand said the agency has asked Puch AI for due‑diligence documents within three days and will cancel the MoU if the company does not qualify.
- Puch AI’s leaders disputed reports of ₹42.9 lakh in revenue and said the plan is a phased public‑private project that uses private investors, not taxpayer funds, with free local‑language AI access promised through AI Commons.
- Skeptics, including Akhilesh Yadav and independent academics quoted by Hindustan Times, questioned the one‑year‑old firm’s lack of verifiable work on data centres or universities, while CNBCTV18 highlighted a proposed 40‑acre AI City site near Lucknow and a wider multi‑city push.