Tips & Tricks

Claim Sarvam AI free credits for coding work in India

2026-09-18 - ABikram Mondal

Sign up for a Sarvam AI account

Sarvam AI is an Indian provider that gives every new account ₹100 in credits. These credits work on their own models and never expire according to the company site. Open a browser and go to sarvam.ai to start the free registration.

Enter your email and create a password. The process takes a couple of minutes and does not ask for payment details. Indian users report no extra verification steps beyond the standard form.

After you confirm the email, log in to the dashboard. Look for the API keys section. Generate a new key right away so you can test the service the same day.

The dashboard shows your current credit balance at the top. It starts at ₹100 for new users. Keep the key safe in a password manager because it grants access to the paid endpoints too.

Check your free credit balance and pricing

The ₹100 grant covers roughly three million input tokens on their Sarvam-105B model. Output tokens cost more per the published rates of ₹29.28 per million input and ₹73.2 per million output. This amount lasts for light daily use over weeks.

Log back into the dashboard after a day or two and refresh the balance page. The site tracks every request in real time so you can see exactly how much remains. No automatic top-up happens on the free grant.

Compare this to other free tiers that reset monthly. Sarvam credits stay until spent. That helps when you only need occasional help with code reviews or small scripts.

Indian developers note that the API endpoint works without a VPN or special routing. The service runs on local infrastructure so latency stays low from most cities.

Install the OpenAI compatible client in VS Code

Sarvam uses an OpenAI-shaped endpoint. Install the Continue.dev extension from the VS Code marketplace if you do not already have it. This extension accepts any OpenAI compatible key.

Open the Continue settings file and add a new provider block. Paste your Sarvam key and set the base URL to the one listed in the Sarvam dashboard. Save the file and restart the editor.

Test the connection with a simple prompt in the chat sidebar. Ask it to explain a short Python function. If the response arrives, the key works. The first call uses a few hundred tokens from your balance.

Switch the model name in the config to sarvam-105b-chat when you want the larger model. Smaller options appear in the dashboard for lighter tasks. Keep the default for now to conserve credits.

Run a real coding task with the credits

Open a project folder in VS Code. Highlight a block of code and ask the sidebar agent to add comments or refactor a function. The request uses the Sarvam endpoint and deducts from the ₹100 balance.

Try a larger job such as generating unit tests for a module. The agent reads the file context and returns the new test file. Review the output before accepting changes.

Move to the terminal for CLI work. Install the openai Python package and run a short script that calls the Sarvam endpoint directly. This route bypasses the editor extension for batch jobs.

Track usage after each session in the dashboard. Stop when the remaining balance drops below ₹20 so you have room for one more urgent task later.

Know the real limits and the catch

The free credits total ₹100 and never expire but they are one-time only. Once spent you move to paid plans that start at standard API rates. The company has not announced any renewal of the grant for existing accounts.

Rate limits apply even on the free balance. The dashboard shows a default of 40 chat requests per minute on the starter tier. Heavy parallel calls can hit this ceiling quickly.

Some models listed in the picker require an extra beta flag on the API key. Request that flag through the support form if you need access to the fastest options. The basic Sarvam-105B works without the flag.

Privacy note: your code travels to their servers. Do not send proprietary company logic until you review their data policy on the site. Local models remain the safer choice for sensitive work.

Extend the workflow to daily use

Keep one VS Code workspace configured only for Sarvam. Use it for quick prototypes and leave the main workspace on other free tools. This separation prevents accidental high usage.

Export your prompts into a reusable library inside the editor. The Continue extension supports custom slash commands that call the same endpoint every time.

When the balance runs low, the same key works for paid top-ups. Add funds through UPI directly from the dashboard without changing any code.

ABikram Mondal builds web development for exactly this kind of problem at https://abikrammondal.com/services/web-development. Test the credits on a small script first and decide whether the quota meets your weekly needs.

The short version. New Sarvam AI accounts receive ₹100 in non-expiring credits that work with OpenAI-compatible clients in VS Code for light coding tasks.

Sources

Reported from the sources above on 2026-09-18. Figures are as published at the time of writing. If something here has moved on, the linked source is the one to trust.

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