If you're planning to start a company offering AI/ML services, particularly in India, you'll be entering a dynamic and competitive landscape. Your biggest competitors will likely fall into several categories, ranging from established global IT powerhouses to specialized AI startups and regional development firms.

Here's a breakdown of the types of companies that would be your primary competitors:

1. Large Global IT Consulting and Services Firms:

   • Infosys Limited, Tech Mahindra Limited, Tata Elxsi, Persistent Systems Limited, Oracle Financial Services Software Limited, L&T Technology Services Limited, Zensar Technologies Limited, Cyient Limited, Happiest Minds Technologies, Saksoft Limited, Kellton Tech Solutions Limited: These are major Indian IT companies with significant market capitalization that offer a broad spectrum of AI/ML consulting and development services. They leverage their extensive experience and resources to provide solutions across various sectors like automotive, healthcare, media, finance, and retail.1

   • Microsoft, Google, IBM, Amazon, NVIDIA, Intel Corporation, Bosch: Global tech giants with a strong presence in India. They offer comprehensive AI platforms (like Azure Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning, AWS Bedrock, Google Cloud AI services) and are heavily invested in AI research and development, including generative AI, conversational AI, and custom AI chips.3 They also provide AI consulting and integration services.3

   • Cognizant, Wipro: These are globally recognized leaders in development and consultancy services, known for building future-proof AI-powered tools and offering extensive AI services, including GenAI deployment at enterprise scale.6

2. Specialized AI Development and Consulting Firms:

   • AI Superior, Vaidik AI, Codiste, VisionX, SuperAnnotate, Vstorm, TechAhead, Debut Infotech: These companies specialize in niche AI services like LLM fine-tuning, custom dataset preparation, model evaluation, and deployment for enterprise use cases. They focus on adapting open-source LLMs to specific domains and tasks.7

   • Ksolves: A leading AI development company in India with over 12 years of experience, specializing in NLP, computer vision, predictive analytics, and recommendation engines for finance, healthcare, logistics, and retail.2 They also offer Generative AI and LLM solutions.2

   • Fractal Analytics: Known for AI-powered decision intelligence, consumer insights, and platforms like "Qure.ai" (healthcare) and "Cuddle" (business intelligence).2

   • Haptik, ORAI Robotics, Uniphore, Yellow.ai: These are prominent players in conversational AI, specializing in AI chatbots and virtual assistants for customer support, voice AI, and NLP-driven automation.2 Salesforce, for instance, uses AI to handle 85% of its customer service queries.8

   • Arya.ai: Focuses on AI for the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sector, offering regulatory-compliant platforms for risk modeling, fraud detection, and underwriting.2

   • Mad Street Den: Specializes in AI for retail, offering visual recognition and personalization solutions for product tagging, cataloging, and recommendation engines.2

   • Locus: A rising AI company in India delivering AI-powered supply chain solutions, including route optimization and warehouse automation.2

   • SigTuple: Transforms healthcare diagnostics with AI.2

   • InData Labs, Deeper Insights, 7EDGE, Brainpool AI, Markovate, ThirdEye Data: These are AI consulting firms offering services like GenAI, ChatGPT integration, predictive analytics, machine learning, deep learning, NLP, computer vision, and AI strategy consulting.6

3. Regional AI Development Companies (e.g., Ahmedabad, India):

   • fxis.ai, Simform, eSparkBiz, Slash, Intuz, Developer Bazaar Technologies, Growth Loops Technology Private Limited, Krazimo: These are some of the top AI companies in Ahmedabad, offering services such as AI development, custom software development, AI consulting, generative AI, predictive analytics, and AI-powered chatbots.9

   • Spectrics Solutions, Citrusbug Technolabs, Yudiz Solutions, MindInventory: These firms in Ahmedabad specialize in custom AI/ML services, including predictive modeling, NLP-based chatbots, image recognition tools, and end-to-end machine learning solutions for various industries.10

   • OpenXcell, SoluLab: Also based in Ahmedabad, these companies offer cutting-edge software development services, including AI strategy, custom LLMs, and full-cycle development.6

To effectively compete, you would need to differentiate your services, perhaps by focusing on a specific niche, demonstrating superior expertise in a particular AI technology (like agentic AI or multimodal AI), offering highly competitive pricing, or providing exceptional customer service and integration capabilities.