‘Downloads isn’t Rooted in What Works in India, Sarvam Grew 10x in a Month,’ Says Lightspeed Investor

Following days of criticism and debate over Sarvam AI’s newly launched Indic LLM, Sarvam-M, Hemant Mohapatra, partner at Lightspeed India, an investor in Sarvam AI, has addressed the backlash, highlighting the company’s scale, growth, and strategic direction.

In a post on X, Mohapatra acknowledged the global attention Sarvam received in the past week, saying, “We appreciate the attention and also understand the responsibility.” He noted that while criticism is expected, much of it stems from a misunderstanding of the startup’s long-term goals.

“Most folks really don't understand what strategy we are going for and what matters in that strategy,” Mohapatra wrote. He emphasised that Sarvam AI’s approach is deeply rooted in India-specific dynamics and long-term boardroom-level transformation projects.

“There is absolutely a huge demand for what we are building but looking at it from the generic lens of downloads isn't rooted in what really works in India,” he said.

Sarvam, according to Mohapatra, grew 10x last month from an already significant base and ran one of India’s largest population-scale AI campaigns, reaching over 4% of the adult population. 

Responding to online comments suggesting that Sarvam should build hype like other LLM players, Mohapatra dismissed the idea of clout-driven validation. 

“Most of X lives at the peak of the bell curve and clout mongering isn’t a path to gain respect anyway,” replied a user on X.

The remarks follow days of social media criticism, sparked in part by investor Deedy Das, who compared the Sarvam-M model to one built by Korean college students. 

Read: Sarvam AI’s Backlash Exposes the Sad State of Indian AI

Das’ comments prompted defense from Sarvam’s team and supporters, including Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu, who argued that instant success isn’t essential for long-term impact. 

Sarvam-M currently has 1.2k downloads on Hugging Face.

Earlier in this ongoing debate, Sarvam co-founder Pratyush Kumar expressed optimism in a post on X. “Great to be receiving feedback on Sarvam-M. Please keep them coming. Will help strengthen our pipelines as we start to train our sovereign model,” he said, confirming that Sarvam is on the path of building a foundational LLM under the IndiaAI Mission.