In a world where artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping economies, governance, and everyday life, the race is no longer just about who builds the biggest models — it is about who builds models that truly understand their people.
At the upcoming India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, one of India’s most ambitious sovereign AI projects is preparing to take a decisive step forward. BharatGen, the government-backed AI initiative, will unveil its 17-billion-parameter multilingual foundational model — BharatGen Param2. For India’s deep-tech startup ecosystem, this is more than just a product launch. It signals the arrival of a serious, indigenous contender in the global AI landscape.
A 17B-Parameter Leap Toward AI Self-Reliance
The Param2 17B model is built using a Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture — a design approach that allows the model to efficiently activate specialized sub-networks for different tasks. What makes it particularly significant for India is its support for 22 Indian languages, addressing one of the country’s biggest technological gaps: linguistic inclusivity.
Unlike global large language models primarily trained on Western datasets, Param2 is built using domestic datasets, curated to understand Indian languages, dialects, cultural nuances, and governance contexts. This positions BharatGen as a cornerstone in India’s mission to strengthen sovereign AI capabilities — ensuring that critical AI infrastructure is designed, trained, and deployed within the country.
For India’s startup ecosystem, this foundational model offers something equally powerful: infrastructure. Startups building AI applications in governance, education, healthcare, agriculture, and fintech could now plug into a domestically developed multilingual backbone rather than relying solely on foreign platforms.
Fueling the Startup Ecosystem With Foundational Infrastructure
Industry experts believe Param2 17B could catalyze a new wave of AI-native startups. By providing a sovereign, multilingual foundation model, BharatGen lowers the entry barrier for founders who want to build sector-specific solutions.
Instead of building large models from scratch — an expensive and resource-heavy exercise — startups can focus on applications, customization, and deployment tailored to Indian users.
This democratization of access could be especially transformative for underserved linguistic regions, where English-first AI tools often fall short.
Real-World Applications: Sector-Focused Demonstrations
At the summit, BharatGen will showcase a wide range of AI-powered solutions developed in collaboration with government departments and industry stakeholders. These demonstrations underline that Param2 is not a lab experiment — it is designed for deployment.
Governance Innovation
Government of Maharashtra
BharatGen will present MahaGPT, developed in collaboration with MITRA and the Government of Maharashtra, aimed at improving efficiency in urban development and revenue departments.
Additional governance-focused tools include:
These use cases highlight how multilingual AI can improve citizen services and streamline administrative workflows.
Healthcare Enablement
Mata Amrita Technologies
The Medsum App, developed by Mata Amrita Technologies, enables AI-powered interaction between doctors and patients, offering multilingual health information support. In a country where language barriers often affect healthcare delivery, such solutions could significantly improve accessibility and clarity.
Education and Skill Development
Kotak Education Foundation
A solution by the Kotak Education Foundation will demonstrate how AI-driven performance analytics can assess spoken English fluency and communication skills. For students and job seekers, this could become a scalable, technology-led bridge to better employability.
Cultural Preservation Through AI
Ministry of Culture
National Archives of India
Under the Ministry of Culture initiative Gyan Bharatam, BharatGen is enabling digitization of ancient manuscripts using AI-powered OCR and conversational AI across Indian languages.
Similarly, AI tools developed for the National Archives of India aim to improve public access to historical records — blending heritage preservation with next-generation AI capabilities.
Fintech and Regulatory Intelligence
International Financial Services Centres Authority
In fintech, BharatGen will showcase:
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AI policy explainer tools for insurance firms
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Underwriting copilots for risk assessment and fraud detection
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A conversational AI interface for the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to simplify regulatory navigation for global investors
These applications indicate how sovereign AI could play a role in strengthening India’s financial services competitiveness.
Leadership Vision: AI Rooted in Inclusivity
Rishi Bal, CEO of BharatGen, emphasized that India’s AI future must be built around linguistic and contextual inclusivity. He noted that these models are designed for real-world deployment across citizen services, finance, healthcare, and education — while strengthening India’s sovereign AI capability.
He added that the summit showcase will enable faster go-to-market pathways and open access for startups, developers, researchers, and enterprises — signaling that BharatGen is positioning itself as an ecosystem enabler, not just a technology provider.
Powered by IndiaAI Mission and Bharat Data Sagar
Supported under the IndiaAI Mission, BharatGen has access to government-backed high-performance computing infrastructure. The initiative is powered by Bharat Data Sagar, a curated national data repository built through public-private collaboration.
BharatGen operates as a consortium under the Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Bombay and is supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Its mandate extends beyond model building — it includes developing multilingual datasets, fostering public-private partnerships, strengthening AI talent pipelines, and accelerating India’s deep-tech startup ecosystem.
The unveiling of Param2 17B at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 is being viewed as a defining moment in India’s sovereign AI journey. As global powers double down on AI dominance, India’s approach — rooted in multilingual access, public infrastructure, and ecosystem collaboration — offers a distinct pathway.
Aligned with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, BharatGen’s latest milestone underscores a broader ambition: not merely to participate in the global AI race, but to shape it on India’s own terms.
For India’s startup founders, developers, policymakers, and citizens, Param2 17B may well mark the beginning of a new chapter — one where AI speaks the language of Bharat.
