Indian Economy News

India, Nepal Sign MoU to Develop AI-Powered Multilingual Language Platform

India and Nepal have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered multilingual language technologies and digital public infrastructure, aimed at enhancing digital inclusion and improving access to public services. The agreement was signed between the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Kathmandu University’s Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence (DPI-AI). Exchanged in the presence of External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Nepal’s Foreign Minister Mr. Shishir Khanal during bilateral engagements in New Delhi, the partnership reflects the growing cooperation between the two countries in emerging technologies and digital transformation. The collaboration seeks to develop a ‘voice-first’ language translation ecosystem for Nepal and strengthen multilingual digital public services through the creation of high-quality language datasets, speech corpora, speech-to-text and text-to-speech systems, machine translation tools and multilingual conversational AI solutions.

The initiative will also focus on preserving and digitising the linguistic and literary heritage of underrepresented and low-resource languages across the India-Nepal region, ensuring broader access to digital services for communities at risk of digital exclusion. Leveraging BHASHINI’s open and interoperable language technology ecosystem, the partnership aims to help overcome barriers related to language, literacy and digital accessibility while expanding the reach of digital public infrastructure in local languages. The MoU further envisages joint research projects, training programmes, capacity-building initiatives and pilot projects in Natural Language Processing (NLP), multilingual AI and digital public infrastructure. The collaboration is expected to create new opportunities in education, skill development, digital commerce and public service delivery while strengthening regional cooperation in technology and innovation. BHASHINI, India’s national initiative for AI-driven multilingual inclusion, currently supports 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian voice languages and 35 international languages, powers more than 800 government websites and processes over 15 million AI inferences daily, demonstrating the scale and impact of India’s language technology ecosystem.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.