Can India’s Own ChatGPT Speak All Indian Languages? BharatGen Could Be the Answer

In a major push towards democratising artificial intelligence for the Indian population, the Government of India has officially launched BharatGen, a state-backed multimodal large language model (LLM) designed specifically for Indian languages. The announcement was made by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh at the recently held BharatGen Summit, and the initiative marks a strategic milestone in the country's AI journey—one that places inclusivity, regional accessibility, and indigenous innovation at its core.

Unlike most conventional LLMs that are primarily built for and trained on English text data, BharatGen is built to process multiple forms of input including text, speech, image, and video. Most importantly, it is tailored for 22 Indian languages—making it one of the most ambitious language AI projects currently underway anywhere in the world.

Dr. Singh described BharatGen as a "national mission to create AI that is ethical, inclusive, multilingual, and deeply rooted in Indian values and ethos." With India's immense linguistic diversity and the growing need for region-specific AI solutions, this mission could hold far-reaching implications for sectors ranging from healthcare and agriculture to education and governance.

Why BharatGen Matters

BharatGen isn’t just another AI model. It is India's strategic response to the global AI race, and a deliberate move to shape how generative AI evolves in a country of 1.4 billion people. India is home to hundreds of languages and dialects, yet most generative AI systems so far have been optimized for English and a handful of global languages. That has led to a significant digital divide, particularly for rural populations or non-English-speaking users.

BharatGen aims to bridge this gap with four key features that set it apart:

1. Multilingual and multimodal architecture: The model can process various types of data—not just written text, but also spoken language, images, and video. This makes it far more adaptive to real-world use cases in a multilingual nation like India.

2. Indigenously developed datasets: A key focus of BharatGen is on curating and using datasets that truly represent India's linguistic and cultural diversity. This helps capture the nuances of dialects, syntax, context, and local expressions, which are often missing in global datasets.

3. Open-source framework: BharatGen is being made available under an open architecture, enabling startups, researchers, and developers to build on top of its base infrastructure without being locked into proprietary ecosystems.

4. A research ecosystem for GenAI in India: Rather than being a one-off model, BharatGen is envisioned as the foundation for a sustained generative AI research and innovation ecosystem in India.

The Infrastructure Behind the Innovation

The BharatGen project is being developed under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) and executed through IIT Bombay’s TIH Foundation for IoT and Internet of Everything. It is supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and involves collaboration with academic institutions, domain experts, and technology innovators across the country.

The government has made clear that the model will not be limited to basic applications, but will be designed to drive impact in real-world sectors that affect everyday lives. From offering voice-enabled healthcare services in local dialects to delivering personalized educational content in regional languages, the model is expected to be widely relevant.

Startups Could Be the Biggest Beneficiaries

The open-source nature of BharatGen makes it especially important for India’s burgeoning startup ecosystem. For many early-stage ventures—particularly those working in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities or focused on vernacular markets—access to foundational AI models has long been a challenge due to high costs and lack of relevant datasets. BharatGen lowers the barrier to entry significantly.

Startups will be able to leverage the platform’s multilingual and multimodal capabilities to build applications that are deeply tailored to local needs—whether it’s an AI assistant for rural farmers in Telugu, a mental health chatbot in Assamese, or an educational app in Marathi. The scope of innovation this unlocks is enormous.

Another important aspect is BharatGen’s focus on data-efficient learning. By optimizing model training even for languages with a limited digital footprint, the platform makes it feasible to support lesser-spoken languages, which have historically been left behind in the digital revolution.

Part of a Larger IndiaAI Mission

The launch of BharatGen is closely linked to the Union Government’s larger ₹10,372 crore IndiaAI Mission. This broader strategy is aimed at catalyzing AI innovation in India, particularly by supporting homegrown startups and foundational AI research.

Earlier this year, the government selected SarvamAI, a startup working on building India’s own foundational LLM. In just the past few weeks, two more startups—Soket AI Labs and Gan.ai—have been selected under this initiative to develop their own AI models. These developments indicate a deliberate and strategic approach to make India not just an adopter, but a creator of advanced AI technologies.

According to Inc42 estimates, the Indian AI sector is projected to become a $17 billion market by 2030. As more funding, policy support, and infrastructure come into place, BharatGen could be the critical bedrock that supports this growth.

A New Chapter in India’s Digital Journey

The launch of BharatGen reflects a turning point in how India approaches the future of technology. It represents a conscious decision to not simply follow global trends, but to create solutions that reflect the country’s linguistic, cultural, and social complexity.

For the Indian startup ecosystem, BharatGen is more than just a government initiative—it is a national infrastructure play, akin to UPI or Aadhaar, that can drive innovation at scale. With open access, indigenous intelligence, and sectoral applicability, it creates a rare opportunity for entrepreneurs to build products that not only cater to India’s vast domestic market, but potentially set new benchmarks for multilingual AI globally.

As India takes a leadership role in the evolution of ethical, inclusive, and scalable AI, BharatGen may very well become the foundation upon which the next wave of AI-driven startups is built.