BHASHINI, GeM Join Hands to Enable Multilingual Public Procurement Across 22 Indian Languages
Partnership aims to remove language barriers for MSMEs, startups and businesses through AI-powered language technologies
Officials of the Digital India BHASHINI Division and Government e-Marketplace exchange the MoU signed to integrate AI-powered multilingual technologies into India's public procurement ecosystem in New Delhi on Monday.
New Delhi: The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) and the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) on Monday signed a strategic memorandum of understanding to strengthen multilingual access across India’s public procurement ecosystem, enabling businesses and entrepreneurs to interact with government procurement platforms in their preferred languages.
The collaboration, signed under the “BHASHINI for Seva/Sanchalan – A BHASHINI Sahayogi Program,” seeks to integrate artificial intelligence-powered language technologies into GeM’s digital platforms and services, making government procurement more inclusive and accessible across the country’s linguistic diversity.
The initiative will leverage BHASHINI, India’s national language digital public infrastructure, to support multilingual governance, multilingual service delivery and voice-first digital interactions across 22 officially recognised Indian languages and several other Indian languages.
Officials said the partnership is expected to particularly benefit micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), startups, entrepreneurs and businesses operating in regional markets by reducing language-related barriers to participation in government procurement opportunities.
Under the agreement, GeM and the BHASHINI team will collaborate on the development and deployment of multilingual digital resources through initiatives such as BHASHINI Udyat, Mitra, AppMitra, Sahyogi and Pravakta.
The collaboration will support translation API integration, multilingual glossary development, domain-specific language models, voice-enabled technologies, AI-powered reference applications, voice bots and linguistic dataset creation tailored to the needs of public procurement and digital commerce.
The partners will also focus on developing multilingual artificial intelligence models capable of supporting procurement-related services, seller onboarding, platform navigation, stakeholder communication and customer engagement across multiple Indian languages.
According to officials, the initiative aligns with the government’s broader vision of digital inclusion and Ease of Doing Business by ensuring that language does not become a barrier to accessing economic opportunities.
The collaboration is expected to enable seamless voice-first experiences and improve accessibility for users from diverse linguistic backgrounds, particularly in non-English-speaking regions.
The MoU also includes plans to promote language data contributions through the Bhashadaan initiative, undertake awareness campaigns, conduct capacity-building programmes and encourage wider adoption of multilingual AI tools among stakeholders associated with the GeM ecosystem.
Both organisations will additionally explore opportunities to strengthen India’s multilingual digital infrastructure, support innovation in language technologies and expand access to public procurement services.
Ajit B. Chavan, additional chief executive officer and chief seller officer of GeM, said the collaboration seeks to leverage BHASHINI’s AI-powered language technologies to remove linguistic barriers and make the GeM platform more accessible for buyers and sellers across the country.
Amitabh Nag, Chief Executive Officer of the Digital India BHASHINI Division, said the partnership would help democratise access to public procurement opportunities through multilingual and voice-enabled technologies.
“Together, we are empowering local businesses, MSMEs, startups and Swadeshi enterprises to connect with national opportunities while strengthening India’s vision of a digitally inclusive economy,” he said.
BHASHINI has emerged as one of India’s largest language technology platforms, supporting more than 800 government websites and processing over 15 million language inferences every day. The platform currently supports 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian voice languages and 35 international languages.
Officials said the partnership reinforces BHASHINI’s role as a population-scale language infrastructure for AI-driven digital governance while supporting GeM’s vision of a transparent, efficient and inclusive public procurement ecosystem.
