Context:

National Quantum Mission is set to launch India’s first quantum computer in a short period.

More on the news

• The National Quantum Mission is setting up a grant for start-ups that need funding ranging from ₹10-50 crore.
• The goal of the mission is to establish a quantum computer with a computation of 20-50 qubits in the next three years, 50-100 qubits in the next five years, and 50-1000 qubits in the next 8 years
• The mission will be setting up four Section 8 (Companies Act, 2013) companies across the four verticals of quantum technologies that the mission wants to incubate namely – computing, communication, measurement, and sensing.
• These companies will be run under the aegis of premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology or the Indian Institute of Sciences.
• The union government announced its plans to dedicate nearly ₹8,000 crore for developing Indigenous quantum technologies
• Two verticals in particular namely quantum computing and quantum communication are emerging to be the most promising especially as India has made advancements in these verticals independent of the mission. 

National Quantum Mission

• The Union Cabinet, approved the National Quantum Mission (NQM) in April 2023 for 2023-24 to 2030-31.
• The Mission objectives include developing intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50-1000 physical qubits in 8 years in various platforms like superconducting and photonic technology.

Mission Implementation includes setting up of four Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) in top academic and National R&D institutes in the domains:

• Quantum Computing
• Quantum Communication
• Quantum Sensing & Metrology 
• Quantum Materials & Device

Quantum computing

• Quantum computing uses subatomic particles, such as electrons or photons. 
• Quantum bits, or qubits, allow these particles to exist in more than one state (i.e., 1 and 0) at the same time.
• Quantum computing involves qubits. 
• Unlike a normal computer bit, which can be either 0 or 1, a qubit can exist in a multidimensional state.