IBM and BharatGen have announced a strategic partnership to promote the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in India. The collaboration will focus on developing AI models tailored to India's linguistic and cultural diversity, using BharatGen’s sovereign multimodal and Large Language Models (LLMs).

The initiative aims to create solution templates for Indian use cases by combining BharatGen’s models with IBM’s AI technologies, such as IBM Granite Models. The partners also plan to demonstrate use cases on IBM Watsonx and Red Hat OpenShift AI, build scalable data pipelines enhanced for Indic languages, and implement governance frameworks based on IBM’s enterprise-scale model development methodology.

Other goals include creating benchmarks suited for Indian domains and languages, as well as researching new generative AI architectures using both organizations’ expertise.

"At BharatGen, we have been building sovereign AI models and the ecosystem that reflects the linguistic richness, cultural nuances, and diverse needs of our people. This collaboration with IBM allows us to bring cutting-edge global research, scalable architectures and inclusive systems for India” said Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, BharatGen. “With IBM’s strength in enterprise-grade platforms and our commitment to public-good AI, we are on a path to drive transformative solutions for empowering India’s digital journey across domains such as agriculture, finance, education, and governance.”

“At IBM, we are committed to support the  creation of open, trusted AI that solves real-world problems,” said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India and South Asia. “Through our collaboration with BharatGen, we aim to advance sovereign AI capabilities that reflect India’s diversity and deliver meaningful impact across sectors.”

BharatGen's roadmap includes addressing national needs in sectors like agriculture, education, healthcare, national security, and finance. A key priority is supporting Indian languages beyond the most widely spoken ones to ensure broader digital participation.

BharatGen operates under the Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Bombay as part of an Indian government-funded initiative supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). Its mission is to develop efficient AI models for Indian languages and foster partnerships that strengthen India's AI talent pool.

IBM provides hybrid cloud services and consulting in over 175 countries. Its technology supports critical infrastructure sectors including financial services, telecommunications, and healthcare by offering cloud solutions through platforms like Red Hat OpenShift.