Puch AI’s tie-up with Andhra Pradesh is the latest step in a very deliberate play: building a sovereign, India‑first AI gateway that runs on phones and WhatsApp, then partnering with state governments to turn it into everyday infrastructure.
What Puch AI is building
Puch AI is an Indian AI assistant platform founded by Siddharth Bhatia, positioned as a “gateway to AI for a billion+ people.” Instead of starting with web apps, it runs primarily over phone calls and WhatsApp (on the premium number 9090909090), so users can interact with AI exactly how they already communicate through voice notes and local languages.
Key points:
- Supports multiple Indian languages; more than 60% of nearly 1 million early users are first‑time AI users from small towns, often using voice messages rather than typing.
- Claims stronger multilingual support than Meta AI and better video generation than Grok, while running on a self‑hosted stack (no external APIs) to keep data and control in India.
- Markets itself as a “sovereign AI”—arguing that relying purely on US or Chinese models risks subtle propaganda and map disputes (citing examples like open‑source Chinese models labelling Arunachal Pradesh as “South Tibet”).
The purchase of India’s “most expensive” mobile number, 9090909090, was a deliberate branding move to create a memorable, phone‑first entry point to AI—“just call or WhatsApp Puch.”
The Andhra Pradesh MoU: AI for SHG women in retail
The new Memorandum of Understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Municipal Administration Department focuses on urban self‑help group (SHG) women in retail.
- Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that Puch AI will deploy AI tools to boost productivity and efficiency for SHG women running small retail outlets and kiosks in cities.
- The partnership aims to give these entrepreneurs AI assistance for tasks like inventory planning, pricing, basic accounting, customer engagement and digital marketing—delivered through simple voice/WhatsApp flows in local languages.
- Officials say Naidu met Puch representatives in Amaravati and framed the deal as part of the state’s strategy to use AI to “empower women and everyday workers,” not just elites.
This dovetails neatly with Puch’s product philosophy: “simple, helpful, mass‑scale AI” that can be used by non‑English speakers and non‑tech‑savvy users on low‑end smartphones.
Puch AI’s recent moves and momentum
Over the past few months, Puch AI has been in the news for several eye‑catching steps:
- Buying 9090909090: Puch Ai publicly said it bought India’s costliest phone number so that India can “own its AI future before it’s written for us.” The number acts as a unified WhatsApp and voice gateway to the service.
- User growth and usage patterns: The team claims nearly 1 million monthly users, a majority from Tier‑2/3 towns, using Puch to draft messages, get information, create videos and do homework or business tasks—often in Hindi and regional languages.
- Viral advocacy for “sovereign AI”: Bhatia’s posts arguing that sovereign AI is “a bigger priority than even nuclear energy” have sparked debate about India’s dependence on foreign models and the need for locally aligned systems.
- Copycat controversy: Indian startup media recently highlighted that a Silicon Valley firm called Interaction had built a very similar “phone‑first AI concierge,” raising $15 million soon after; Puch’s founders used the episode to argue that India must back its own IP rather than watch ideas get capitalised abroad.
The Andhra MoU gives Puch its first high‑profile state‑level deployment, which could in turn help it land similar deals with other state governments and public‑sector bodies.
Read this: Silicon Valley Firm Copies Puch AI and Raises $15 Mn — How Did the Founder React?
Andhra Pradesh’s broader AI push
The Puch AI partnership sits inside an ambitious, multi‑layer AI agenda under the new TDP government:
- AI University with NVIDIA
- In June 2025, Andhra Pradesh signed an MoU with NVIDIA to help set up a dedicated AI University, train 10,000 engineering students over two years, and build advanced AI research centres in the state.
- NVIDIA will guide curriculum, provide tools and hardware blueprints, and bring up to 500 AI startups from AP into its Inception accelerator programme.
- “One AI‑enabled member per family” vision & OpenAI outreach
- IT minister Nara Lokesh has said the state wants at least one AI‑literate person in every family, and has discussed ideas like free ChatGPT access for students in meetings with OpenAI’s leadership.
- Andhra is pitching itself as a data‑centre hub and inviting global AI players to set up infrastructure and R&D in the state.
- Healthcare and AI investments (Blue Cloud’s BluBio project)
- Startup and IT policy 2025
Together, these moves show a dual strategy: work with global giants (NVIDIA, OpenAI, large IT firms) for infra and talent, while also backing home‑grown AI startups like Puch AI to build citizen‑facing, vernacular tools.
Why the Puch–Andhra deal matters
- For Puch AI, this is a major validation that its phone‑ and WhatsApp‑first, Indic‑language AI can be used at policy scale, not just as a consumer toy. A successful pilot with SHG women in retail could become a reference template for other states’ women‑empowerment and livelihoods programs.
- For Andhra Pradesh, it fits into a broader narrative of becoming a “testbed state” for AI in governance and livelihoods—from an AI University and student skilling, to healthcare projects and now grassroots retail productivity.
- For the wider ecosystem, it signals that state governments are increasingly open to partnering not just with Big Tech but with nimble domestic AI startups—especially those that emphasise language support, sovereignty and simple UX over flashy demos.
If the MoU translates into real improvements in SHG incomes and business efficiency, it will give both Puch and Andhra a strong proof‑of‑concept for how AI can be deployed in everyday Indian life, far beyond English‑speaking urban elites.
