Quantum technology is expected to reach critical maturity by 2026-27 and its adoption across industries has the potential to add $310 billion to the Indian economy by 2030, as per the latest NASSCOM report. India plans to develop a quantum computer with roughly 50 qubits by 2026, joining a rising number of countries such as Australia and Israel in promoting the technology's widespread adoption. 

Let’s have a quick run on the steps undertaken by the Government of India to make a giant leap in the quantum domain, thereby turning the plans to realise quantum’s true potential into reality. 

Steps towards quantum supremacy 

Initiate: It is important to note here, that in India, the government emerges as a major sponsor of quantum efforts. About 92 per cent of the 100 quantum projects started in India are funded by the government.  

• QuEST by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) - In 2018, the DST announced an Rs 80 crore Quantum-Enabled Science and Technology (QuEST) programme. The goal of DST's QuEST was to issue a request for proposals for initiatives in the field of quantum computing. The goal is to ensure that the country achieves the technical capacity to create quantum computers and communications systems within ten years. 
• National Mission for Quantum Technologies and Applications (NM-QTA) - The mission's implementation will aid in the development and deployment of quantum computers, secure communications via fibre and free space, quantum encryption and crypt-analysis, and related technologies in India, as well as solve India's specific national and regional concerns. This will further aid in the development of next-generation skilled people, translational research, entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems.  

Invest: The government in February 2020 budget came out with a total outlay of Rs. 8,000 crores (over $1 billion) for a period of five years to be implemented by the Department of Science & Technology (DST). This is done for several initiatives to enhance its quantum information and meteorology, quantum applications and materials, and quantum communications capabilities. 

“Quantum technology is opening up new frontiers in computing, communications, cyber security with widespread applications. It is expected that lots of commercial applications would emerge from theoretical constructs which are developing in this area. It is proposed to provide an outlay of Rs. 8000 crores over a period of five years for the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications,” said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Union Budget 2020 speech. 

Involve: India’s first-ever Quantum Computer Simulator (QSim) Toolkit was launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The indigenous toolkit was launched to enable researchers and students to carry out research in Quantum Computing in a cost-effective manner. This project is being executed collaboratively by IISC Bangalore, IIT Roorkee, and C-DAC with the support of MeitY. 

Addressing the event, Sh. Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that we are coming to an era where conventional computing power growth through the traditional means of silicon and semiconductor is drawing to a close and now we are going to see that the next generation of computing power growth comes from a combination of software, new architectures, system redesign and new system paradigms and that is where the quantum computing comes and is clearly going to be the cutting edge of the future demands of computing power. QSim is the Gateway for Indian scientists to take us in that direction. 

And the impact...... 

In March 2021, ISRO announced that it has successfully demonstrated free-space Quantum Communication over a distance of 300 m. The demonstration included live videoconferencing using quantum-key-encrypted signals. 

In October 2021, Quantum Communication Lab was inaugurated in Delhi at C-DOT, the premier Telecom R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India. The indigenously developed Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) solution was also unveiled, which can support a distance of more than 100 kilometres on standard optical fibre.  

In December 2021, the Army, with support from the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has recently established the Quantum Lab at Military College of Telecommunication Engineering, Mhow (MP) MCTE to spearhead research and training in this key developing field. 

Conclusion 

India has a modest talent pool in terms of capacity and trained professionals when it comes to quantum computing. There are now only a few hundred researchers, industry experts, professors, and entrepreneurs. India trails considerably behind China and the United States.  

Moreover, it is necessary to roll out both - short and long-term - goals, focus on translating research in this domain to real-world applications, work towards knowledge-exchange programmes and help startups or bigger industry players for building indigenous critical quantum components, thereby minimising reliance on imported hardware.