BHASHINI SANGAM Workshop in Nepal Strengthens India–Nepal Collaboration on Multilingual AI

Kathmandu: The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, organised the BHASHINI SANGAM: International Engagement Workshop (Nepal) in Kathmandu in collaboration with the Embassy of India, Kathmandu, and Kathmandu University.

The workshop brought together stakeholders from government, academia, technology, research and innovation ecosystems to explore how multilingual and voice-first Artificial Intelligence (AI) can improve access to digital services, information and opportunities in people's preferred languages.

The workshop marked a step towards strengthening India–Nepal collaboration in Language AI, building on the Memorandum of Understanding between DIBD and Kathmandu University for cooperation on language technology and digital public infrastructure.

The engagement focused on taking the partnership forward through the co-creation of technology, datasets and locally relevant applications designed to address the linguistic needs of communities in both countries.

BHASHINI SANGAM is an international engagement initiative of the Digital India BHASHINI Division. It brings together governments, academia, researchers, developers, startups, language experts and communities to explore the potential of Language AI beyond linguistic and geographical boundaries.

The initiative focuses on co-creating Language AI with countries and communities by combining technology with local knowledge to develop solutions rooted in their linguistic and cultural contexts.

It also seeks to preserve languages and cultures in the digital age by ensuring that the voices, knowledge and identities carried by languages are represented in future technologies. Through these engagements, BHASHINI SANGAM aims to turn shared linguistic and cultural connections into innovation, co-creation and stronger partnerships while advancing an inclusive multilingual AI ecosystem across borders.

BHASHINI Demonstrates Multilingual AI Capabilities

The BHASHINI team conducted live demonstrations of its multilingual AI capabilities, including speech recognition, real-time translation, voice-enabled interaction and document processing. The demonstrations highlighted how Language AI can make digital access more natural and inclusive.

A dedicated BhashaDaan session highlighted the role of language data and community participation in building representative AI. Participants explored contributions across speech, text and image.

The workshop also explored local applications in Nepali and other languages, bringing together BHASHINI's technology ecosystem and Kathmandu University's academic and research capabilities to develop solutions relevant to communities in India and Nepal.

Shri Suman Shekhar, First Secretary, Embassy of India, Kathmandu, said, “The MoU between DIBD and Kathmandu University provides a strong foundation for taking this collaboration forward. Together, we have an opportunity to develop local applications in Nepali, Maithili and other languages that can create meaningful value for people across India and Nepal.”

Shri Amitabh Nag, CEO, Digital India BHASHINI Division, said, “India and Nepal share languages, communities and a deep cultural connection, creating a unique opportunity to build Language AI together. Our aim is not just to make technology understand Nepali, Newari and Maithili, but to build with these languages, their communities and the people who speak them.”

The workshop brought together researchers, students, language experts, developers, startups and ecosystem partners to exchange ideas and explore collaboration around language datasets, research and real-world Language AI solutions.

Bhashini Sangam: International Engagement Workshop (Nepal) marks a step towards a shared India–Nepal Language AI ecosystem, bringing technology, academia, government and communities together to make language a bridge to digital inclusion.

About Digital India BHASHINI Division

The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is India's national platform for AI-powered multilingual digital inclusion.

BHASHINI supports 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian voice languages and 35 international languages. It powers 800+ government websites, has enabled 9 billion+ cumulative AI inferences and processes 24 million+ AI inferences daily, helping make Digital Public Infrastructure more accessible through Language AI.