In a significant step towards strengthening inclusive digital communication, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has launched the ‘Kalaa Setu – Real-Time Language Tech for Bharat’ initiative under its WaveX Startup Accelerator Platform. The programme invites India’s leading AI startups to develop innovative solutions for real-time multilingual and multimedia content generation aimed at enhancing public outreach in governance.
As India’s digital governance ecosystem expands, the need for prompt, effective, and localised communication with citizens has become increasingly important. Traditional content creation processes often struggle to meet the demands of scale and linguistic diversity across the country. In this context, the ‘Kalaa Setu’ challenge seeks to harness the potential of artificial intelligence to bridge language barriers and deliver information to the last mile.
Under this initiative, startups have been invited to develop indigenous, scalable solutions capable of generating audio, video, and graphic content from text inputs in multiple Indian languages. The challenge focuses on three key areas: text-to-video generation for creating contextualised video content, text-to-graphics generation for producing infographics and illustrations, and text-to-audio generation using advanced voice synthesis technology to deliver regionally relatable speech content.
Officials said the solutions developed under ‘Kalaa Setu’ will help public communication bodies to dynamically convert official information into locally relevant formats, such as infographic visuals, video explainers, and audio news capsules, in real time. This will benefit various sections of society, including farmers, students, and senior citizens, by providing them timely updates in languages they understand best.
Startups can submit their applications for the challenge through the WAVEX portal (https://wavex.wavesbazaar.com) under the ‘Kalaa Setu’ category. Applicants must submit a working Minimum Viable Concept by 30th July, 2025. Shortlisted teams will present their solutions before a national jury in New Delhi. The winning team will receive support for full-scale development, pilot opportunities with All India Radio, Doordarshan, and PIB, as well as incubation under the WaveX Innovation Platform.
Earlier, the Ministry had also launched the ‘Bhasha Setu’ challenge on 30th June, 2025, aimed at real-time language translation. Startups can apply for the ‘Bhasha Setu’ challenge till 22nd July, 2025 through the same portal.
These initiatives are part of the Government of India’s larger push to promote AI-driven technologies for inclusive and effective governance. By supporting home-grown innovations in multilingual communication and translation, the government aims to ensure that every citizen, regardless of language or region, has timely access to information.
WaveX, launched under the Ministry’s WAVES initiative, serves as a dedicated startup accelerator to encourage innovation in media, entertainment, and language technologies. Earlier this year, the platform provided over 30 startups an opportunity to pitch their ideas at the WAVES Summit in Mumbai.