India installed the Cray X-MP/14 Supercomputer at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), New Delhi, at a cost of ₹150 million (₹15 crore). This was a significant milestone in India’s computational meteorology, as it provided advanced weather forecasting capabilities and supported agrometeorology programmes.

First Supercomputer for Weather Forecasting in India: The Cray X-MP/14 was a vector-processing supercomputer, known for its high-speed calculations, essential for medium-range weather predictions.

Enhanced Meteorological Research: It enabled more accurate weather forecasts, helping sectors like agriculture, disaster management, and aviation by predicting monsoons, cyclones, and other climatic patterns.

Boost to Agrometeorology: The system improved farmers’ access to climate data, aiding in crop planning, irrigation scheduling, and pest control measures.

International Benchmark: At the time, Cray supercomputers were among the most powerful in the world, placing India on the global map in high-performance computing (HPC) for meteorology.

This installation marked a turning point in India’s scientific computing infrastructure, eventually leading to the development of indigenous supercomputing initiatives, such as the PARAM series by C-DAC in the 1990s.