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Quantum science and computing

India is building quantum technology and quantum security at the same time. The National Quantum Mission, approved in 2023, now reports 17 startups, 23 teaching labs and technology moving to industry, while the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) has released 14 indigenous quantum security products. Behind both sits the fragility of quantum states, and a laboratory result showing that one well timed flip can keep entanglement from dying at all.

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2026: the mission's qubit target and its four thematic hubs
  • Prelims 2025: the Majorana 1 chip and quantum computing
  • Prelims 2022: the context in which the term qubit is used

Why a quantum state is fragile

  • Quantum entanglement weakens through decoherence as the particles decay towards their ground state.
  • Entanglement sudden death is its complete loss at a finite time, before the decay ends.

The National Quantum Mission

National Quantum Mission

  • Quantum computing

    • Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru
    • With the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)

  • Quantum communication

    • Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras
    • With C-DOT

  • Quantum sensing and metrology

    • IIT Bombay

  • Quantum materials and devices

    • IIT Delhi
The hub structure, from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) release of 12 August 2026
  • The mission was approved in 2023 and is run by the Department of Science and Technology.
  • It aims at intermediate scale quantum computers of 50 to 1,000 physical qubits over eight years.

What has happened

  1. 7 Sep 2026

    The Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, showed with mission funding that one well timed flip can prevent, delay or hasten entanglement sudden death.

    • Photons carried the states, vertical polarisation standing for the excited state and horizontal for the ground state.
    • The flip swaps the populations of the two states partway through, so timing itself becomes a control resource that needs no new hardware.

    PIB, 7 Sep 2026: Scientists uncover a way to outsmart quantum entanglement loss with a single move (opens in a new tab)

  2. 31 Aug 2026

    C-DOT unveiled 14 indigenous quantum security products.

    • They include fibre based Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems, a measurement device independent QKD system and an indigenous single photon detector.
    • Its quantum safe encryptors work at up to 200 Gbps on Post-Quantum Cryptography algorithms standardised by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

    PIB, 31 Aug 2026: C-DOT launches 14 indigenous quantum-security products (opens in a new tab)

  3. 12 Aug 2026

    A progress report set out what the mission has funded so far.

    • Seventeen quantum startups are being supported and another 23 quantum teaching labs are being set up.
    • The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has added undergraduate minor and Master of Technology (M.Tech) programmes.
    • The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has transferred a Quantum Random Number Generator and a quantum processor controller to industry.
    • The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology runs Qniverse, a quantum computing platform.

    PIB, 12 Aug 2026: National Quantum Mission: hubs and progress (opens in a new tab)