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“We are going to install 73 supercomputers in different parts of the country and all will be linked by a computer grid,” said a government statement on 25 March 2015, the day the NDA government approved a Rs 4,500-crore (~ $670 million) plan towards a National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). Rs 2,800 crore would come from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Rs 1,700 crore from the Department of IT.

As goals went, it was not only audacious but also sensible. Rs 4,500 crore over seven years to make ‘home brew supercomputers’ a reality in India.