How India can overcome the quantum lag behind U.S., China

The Hindu

3 days ago

As India embarks on its ambitious $750 million National Quantum Mission, it finds itself at a historic inflection point—much like the 1970s when it declared self-reliance in nuclear technology. Then, as now, the engine driving this leap is theoretical brilliance paired with mission execution. Today's mission, however, seeks mastery over a frontier even stranger than the atomic nucleus: the quantum realm.
Useful parallel
The universe, at its most fundamental level, operates under principles that defy classical intuition. A groundbreaking experiment conducted at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science in 1998, and reported in the prestigious journal Nature, vividly demonstrated one of quantum theory's most mind-bending assumptions: the act of observation influences reality.
Researchers created a microscopic setup with a barrier containing two holes and directed electrons towards it. By employing an electronic detector as the observer, they meticulously tracked the electrons' behaviour. The experiment revealed that, when unobserved, electrons behaved as waves, simultaneously traversing both openings. However, upon observation by the detector, these same electrons were compelled to act as particles, passing through only one opening.
Crucially, the degree of observation directly correlated with the extent of control over the resulting interference patterns validating fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics such as superposition, entanglement, and wavefunction collapse. These observations, amongst Richard Feynman's foundational work in the 1980s, would lay the foundation for Quantum Key Distribution computing, sensing and metrology, materials and devices, software and algorithms, optics, and photonics technologies.
Around the same decade, India announced its self-reliance in nuclear technology that represented the culmination of decades of mathematical modelling, from Monte Carlo simulations for neutron transport to sophisticated algorithms for implosion dynamics. Starting in 1940s, under the leadership of Homi Bhabha, a theoretical physicist himself, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research-led mission successfully built capacity in neutron physics, reactor design calculations, and complex mathematical modelling. This helped physicists build Apsara, India's first research reactor, and later the entire nuclear power program possible.
Both nuclear and quantum technology deal with the fundamental nature of matter at the atomic and subatomic levels and are built on the bedrock of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. Quantum physics is the foundational framework describing matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic scales, encompassing all fundamental forces and particles like electrons and quarks. Nuclear physics, a specific branch within this framework, focuses intensely on the atomic nucleus—its protons and neutrons—and the powerful strong and weak nuclear forces that govern them, operating at much higher energy scales than typical atomic interactions.
While quantum physics provides the universal rules for the microscopic world, nuclear physics applies these rules to unravel the complex behaviour and transformations within the nucleus itself, leading to phenomena like radioactivity, fission, and fusion. Quantum mechanics and nuclear physics depend greatly on mathematical structures such as linear algebra, differential equations and probability theory to model and predict the behaviour of subatomic particles, in which wave functions and probabilities are key concepts.
This legacy of coupling theoretical brilliance with an almost obsessive focus on mission execution is profoundly relevant for India's quantum ambition today as it pursues its $750 million National Quantum Mission. Quantum computing demands exactly the skills India has cultivated: advanced linear algebra for quantum state manipulation, group theory for quantum symmetries, probability theory for quantum measurement, and number theory for quantum cryptography.
The transition from nuclear to quantum represents an evolution in India's scientific journey. Where nuclear physics required mastery of differential equations and statistical mechanics, quantum computing demands tensor algebra and quantum field theory—domains where India's mathematical tradition provides natural advantages.
The same institutions that powered nuclear success—TIFR, IITs, DRDO and BARC—now host quantum research centres and have built and tested India's first 6-qubit superconducting quantum processor, facilitating India's entry into the quantum hardware arena, a field dominated so far by only a few nations. Interestingly, all the major building blocks were conceived in India: the qubits were designed and made at TIFR's Mumbai facility, with a new ring-resonator design created by TIFR researchers. The control electronics and software stack were integrated by DRDO's Young Scientists Laboratory for Quantum Technologies (DYSL-QT) in Pune with assistance from TCS, showcasing a synergy among defence labs, academics, and industry.
Companies like QPiAi and QNu Labs are actively developing quantum computing and quantum-safe communication while the government is pursuing secure satellite-based quantum key distribution and advanced metrology systems. The successful demonstration of free-space quantum secure communication over more than one kilometre by DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) at IIT Delhi further highlights India's progress in practical applications. Further , start-ups such as Nav Wireless are pioneering indigenous Free space optical communication (FSOC) technology that can support interference-free quantum communication in urban and low resource rural settings.
Despite India's progress in software-centric, theoretical and algorithmic aspects of quantum computing, the country lags China and the U.S. China leads in quantum communications, lags in computing (where the United States excels), and matches the United States in sensing. China excels in market-ready tech, while the U.S. dominates other high-impact areas. These progresses have been made possible due to their success in attracting top talent, providing enabling infrastructure/labs and sufficient funding (China's $15 billion public quantum funding)
The crucial talent gap
While India has a very large number of quantum-educated graduates and ranks second globally in quantum-ready workforce with approximately 91,000 graduates as of 2021 (based on quantum-relevant fields such as biochemistry, electronics, chemical engineering, mathematics, and statistics published by McKinsey Quantum Technology Monitor-April 2024), the human resource involved in developing quantum technologies is abysmally small. This critical shortage means entire subfields of quantum technology remain unexplored or underdeveloped within India.
Furthermore, a notable weakness is the limited industry funding for research, with only 2.6% of surveyed PhD and postdoctoral researchers in India reporting industry support as per Office of PSA's April 2025- India's International Technology Engagement Strategy for Quantum Science, Technology and Innovationreport. This indicates a disconnect between the available academic talent and its effective integration into industrial quantum development.
Building enabling infrastructure and self-reliance
Recognising these gaps, the National Quantum Mission aims to significantly boost India's capabilities. Plans include expanding local fabrication facilities and supporting deep-tech startups through new funding initiatives, such as a recently announced $1.2 billion fund for deep-tech ventures. The structure of the mission consists of thematic hubs (T-Hubs) at world-class institutions such as IISc Bengaluru and Amravati Quantum Valley (Quantum Computing), IIT Madras (for Quantum Communication), IIT Bombay (for Quantum Sensing and Metrology), and IIT Delhi (for Quantum Materials & Devices) for creating research and skill-building in different quantum verticals.
Further, India should also invest in the development of a robust domestic supply chain and talent base fabrication, cryogenics, and photonics on lines of the microelectronics commons programme in the US. While the Amravati Quantum declaration is a good start, India needs an accelerated roll-out of the enabling infrastructure to play catch-up with developed economies that have been investing 10X on Quantum initiatives.
Fixing India's quantum talent woes
The fragmented nature of India's research landscape, with few institutions appearing in top global rankings, could further hinder its ability to attract and retain top-tier foreign talent and lose Indian early-career researchers who often move to the U.S. and Europe for high-impact research opportunities. To reverse this trend, India should attract Indian-origin researchers working in international locations to contribute to its mission by offering innovative Visas (Europe's 'Talent Visas'), competitive salaries, better funding, and an enabling research environment.
While a concerted effort is being made to create a qualified quantum workforce through numerous academic programs and collaborative research efforts, such as new undergraduate programs launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and AICTE and efforts from not-for-profit organizations such as QIndia, the nation should focus on integrating quantum curriculum into K-12 education itself much on the lines of USA's National Q-12 education partnership.
India's intellectual heritage, which enabled India's remarkable nuclear achievements, can now propel the nation toward quantum supremacy provided India focuses on Quantum communication and Computing as core areas as they are the foundational technology layers for enabling other critical missions on Healthcare, Energy and Defence. Sustained investment in specialized training, fostering stronger industry-academia collaboration, attracting and retaining top-tier talent, and developing a resilient domestic supply chain are all vital components for India to achieve its vision of becoming a global leader in the quantum revolution.
(The author is an Emerging Technology expert with experience in setting up DeepTech public private partnerships and policy advisory in areas of AI, IoT, Quantum,5G, Geospatial, Autonomous and Data Centre Technologies.)