Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that text-based artificial intelligence models under the Bharat GenAI initiative will be completed in all 22 Constitutionally recognised Indian languages within this month.
Replying to a starred question during Question Hour, the Minister said speech and vision capabilities under the programme have already been developed in 15 Indian languages and will be expanded further in a phased manner. He described Bharat GenAI as India’s first government-owned sovereign large language model tailored to Indian languages, culture and societal needs.
Singh said Bharat GenAI is a key outcome of the IndiaAI Mission launched in March 2024 and has been conceptualised as a national foundational model. Unlike similar initiatives globally that largely serve linguistically homogeneous societies, he said the Indian model has been designed to reflect the country’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
The Minister told the House that Bharat GenAI comprises three core components – text, speech and vision – along with domain-specific applications in areas such as agriculture, Ayurveda and the legal system. While text models covering all scheduled languages are expected to be completed this month, speech and vision models currently span 15 languages and will be extended as more datasets become available. He added that the initiative has been structured as a dynamic and evolving process, with scope to include dialects and regional variations beyond the scheduled languages.
On the institutional framework, Singh said the Bharat GenAI consortium is being led by IIT Bombay, with participation from IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Mandi and IIT Indore, among others. He said the consortium-based approach reflects a “whole-of-science” and “whole-of-nation” model rather than a region-centric effort.
The Minister also informed the House that 25 technology innovation hubs have been established to support emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning and cybersecurity. Of these, four hubs – at IIT Indore, IIT Kanpur, IIT Dhanbad and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru – have been upgraded to enable closer industry–academia collaboration and facilitate technology transfer.
Responding to questions on representation from the North-Eastern region, Singh said the innovation ecosystem is expanding and remains open to wider institutional participation. He added that languages from the North-East are already included among the 22 scheduled languages being covered under Bharat GenAI.
Addressing concerns over computational capacity, particularly access to graphics processing units (GPUs), the Minister said compute infrastructure is a critical pillar of the IndiaAI Mission. He noted that the mission provides shared compute resources at subsidised rates for eligible users and has been designed to scale through additional sources as demand increases.
The Minister said private sector participation is being encouraged and referred to the recently launched ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation funding initiative, which is aimed at supporting projects closer to deployment, including AI-related infrastructure and compute needs.
On access and pricing, Singh said the framework for the use of Bharat GenAI models is currently under discussion. He clarified that while the model is sovereign in nature, it is not intended to be closed, and mechanisms are being developed to address data sharing, safeguards and pricing, including possible concessions for different categories of users.
Concluding his reply, the Minister said Bharat GenAI is envisaged as a continuously evolving national capability, with an emphasis on inclusiveness, linguistic authenticity and long-term scalability in line with India’s technological and social requirements.
