Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, on Monday launched 'Bharat Gen', India's first indigenously developed, government-funded, AI-based Multimodal Large Language Model (LLM) for Indian languages.
Launched at at the BharatGen Summit, Singh described BharatGen as a national mission to create AI that is ethical, inclusive, multilingual and deeply rooted in Indian values and ethos.
The platform accepts inputs, including text, speech and images, and provides AI solutions in 22 Indian languages.
“This initiative will empower critical sectors such as healthcare, education, agriculture and governance, delivering region-specific AI solutions that understand and serve every Indian,” said Singh.
BharatGen, developed under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) and implemented by IIT Bombay's TIH Foundation for IoT and IoE, promises to revolutionise AI development across India's linguistic and cultural spectrum.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) supports this effort, which unites a robust coalition of premier academic institutions, professionals and innovators.
The BharatGen program is being implemented through a network of 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs), four of which have been upgraded to Technology Translational Research Parks (TTRPs).
Sarvam AI Debate
Recently, AI startup Sarvam AI launched its indegenous LLM, Sarvam-M that became the centre of a debate. The question is whether Sarvam AI's new Indic-focused open-source LLM represents a pivotal moment in India's AI ambitions or an overhyped product with limited real-world application.
While some view the model as a significant step towards India's goal of technological sovereignty, others highlight low adoption rates and argue that the enthusiasm may not align with its actual impact.
Following multiple rounds of submissions from startups across the country, Sarvam AI was selected to develop India's first AI foundational model, announced Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, in April 2025.
“We are all part of these exciting journeys, and today, we are very happy to share an important milestone, the launch of the first step in our own foundational model, Sarvam AI has been selected to develop India’s first indigenous AI foundational model,” said Vaishnaw.
“The company has sought a six-month timeline to complete the development of its foundational model,” said Vivek Raghavan, Founder of Sarvam AI.
