The National Quantum Mission

Ordinary computers store information as bits — a 0 or a 1. Quantum computers use qubits instead. A qubit can hold a mix of both states at once. That difference could let future machines solve certain problems far faster than any computer today. India launched a national mission to build this capability at home.

MCQ Questions

Science & Technology

The National Quantum Mission

From cabinet approval to India’s first 156-qubit computer, in three years

19 April 2023

Cabinet Approval

₹6,003.65 crore outlay approved, running 2023-24 to 2030-31.

2024

Four Hubs, First Processor

Four Thematic Hubs stand up; DRDO, TIFR and TCS build a 6-qubit processor.

14 April 2025

QpiAI-Indus

Bengaluru startup QpiAI launches a 25-qubit quantum computer.

2025-2026

Amaravati Quantum Valley

IBM and TCS plan a 156-qubit machine — India’s largest quantum computer.

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Timeline

• 19 April 2023 — The Union Cabinet approves the National Quantum Mission, with an outlay of ₹6,003.65 crore for 2023-24 to 2030-31.
• 2024 — Four Thematic Hubs are established. The same year, DRDO’s Young Scientists Laboratory, TIFR, and TCS build India’s first indigenous 6-qubit superconducting quantum processor.
• 14 April 2025 — Bengaluru startup QpiAI launches QpiAI-Indus, a 25-qubit quantum computer, a major jump in indigenous capability.
• 2025-2026 — IBM and Tata Consultancy Services partner with the Andhra Pradesh government to deploy a 156-qubit IBM Heron quantum computer at the Amaravati Quantum Valley, India’s first dedicated quantum tech park.

Must Know

• The National Quantum Mission (NQM) was approved by the Union Cabinet on 19 April 2023. Its outlay is ₹6,003.65 crore, spread across 2023-24 to 2030-31.
• The mission’s nodal department is the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• Its goal is to build intermediate-scale quantum computers. The target is 20-50 qubits within three years, 50-100 qubits within five years, and up to 1,000 qubits within eight years.
• The mission works across several hardware platforms at once. These include superconducting, photonic, trapped-ion, semiconducting, and neutral-atom qubits.
• Four Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) anchor the mission’s four focus areas: Quantum Computing at IISc Bengaluru, Quantum Communication at IIT Madras with C-DOT, Quantum Sensing and Metrology at IIT Bombay, and Quantum Materials and Devices at IIT Delhi.

Good to Know

• The four T-Hubs run as a hub-and-spoke network. They coordinate 14 Technical Groups and around 152 researchers across 43 institutions.
• QpiAI-Indus, launched 14 April 2025, is India’s first home-built 25-qubit quantum computer. It followed an earlier 6-qubit superconducting processor built by DRDO, TIFR, and TCS in 2024.
• The Amaravati Quantum Valley in Andhra Pradesh is India’s first dedicated quantum technology park. It brings research institutions, startups, and industry into one cluster.
• IBM and Tata Consultancy Services plan to deploy a 156-qubit IBM Heron processor at Amaravati. It would become India’s largest quantum computer once it goes live.

Test Yourself

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1. In which year did the Union Cabinet approve the National Quantum Mission?

2023

2021

2019

2025

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Great to Know

• A qubit’s advantage comes from superposition and entanglement. These let quantum computers explore many possible answers at once, instead of checking them one at a time like a classical computer.
• Quantum computing isn’t a faster version of every computing task. It offers a real speed advantage only for specific problem types, like factoring large numbers or simulating molecules.
• India’s quantum push also has a security dimension. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer could eventually break the encryption that protects today’s digital communication, which is why quantum-safe cryptography is part of the mission’s wider research agenda.
• The National Quantum Mission is one of several deep-tech missions India launched around the same period, alongside dedicated pushes in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, reflecting a broader strategy of building sovereign capability in frontier technologies rather than relying only on imported systems.
• The mission’s Quantum Communication Thematic Hub has its own dedicated research story. See SciTech0118 — Quantum Networks Research.
• For a global quantum-hardware milestone outside India’s own mission, see SciTech0155 — Majorana 1 Chip, Microsoft’s topological quantum processor.

Previous Year Questions

Asked as: “Which of the following statements with regard to the National Quantum Mission (NQM) is/are correct?” (UPSC CSP 2026, GS Paper I, Q49).

Also asked as: “Consider the following statements [on the Majorana 1 chip]…” (UPSC CSP 2025, GS Paper I, Q47) — about Microsoft’s Majorana 1 chip, a different (non-India) quantum computing milestone. See SciTech0155 for details.