Noida (UP): India will soon acquire its fastest supercomputer at a cost of Rs 900 crore and it is expected to start functioning by March next year, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Wednesday.

In his first visit to a research centre under the Ministry of Earth Sciences since assuming charge, Rijiju said with its acquisition, India will acquire the weather monitoring mechanism with the highest resolution of the probabilistic forecast.

Rijiju was addressing the media during his visit to the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) in Noida, Uttar Pradesh today.

“The new computer can improve forecasting from 12 to 6 km. Compared to the Cray XC-40 supercomputer ‘Mihir’ with a performance of 6.8 petaFLOPS (PFLOPS), India’s fastest supercomputer at present, the new supercomputer will have nearly thrice the capability, viz 18 PFLOPS,” he said.

“The facilities at this world-class centre will benefit all sectors, all sections of the society, in fact, every individual of the country is going to get the benefit directly from this institution,” he added.

Rijiju said India’s weather forecasting capability are improving day by day.

“We are also extending weather forecasts to countries in the neighbourhood and beyond,” he said.

The premises of NCMRWF, the Centre of Excellence in Weather and Climate Modelling, also hosts the BIMSTEC Centre on Weather and Climate (BCWC) of the regional grouping ‘Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation’ (BIMSTEC).

BIMSTEC comprises seven countries - five from South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and two from Southeast Asia, including Myanmar and Thailand.

Rijiju said the NCMRWF is a leading institution of its kind in the world.

“It’s a matter of great pride for India that our NCMRWF is going to be the world-class centre,” he said.

Rijiju was briefed by Dr M. Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences; Dr V.S. Prasad, Head, and other senior scientists of the NCMRWF.