The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), on Tuesday launched the VYOMA Innovation Challenge to encourage the development of open-source, multilingual and voice-first artificial intelligence solutions that can operate in offline and low-connectivity environments.
The initiative has been launched in collaboration with Current AI and Kalpa Impact and aims to strengthen India’s multilingual AI ecosystem by supporting innovations that improve language accessibility, digital inclusion and access to technology.
The challenge builds on Sunno Sutra, a multilingual, voice-first, open-source handheld AI reference device jointly developed by BHASHINI and Current AI. The device was unveiled at the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026 and is designed to deliver conversational AI services across Indian languages without relying on cloud infrastructure.
Speaking on the initiative, Amitabh Nag, Chief Executive Officer of the Digital India BHASHINI Division, said multilingual AI has the potential to become a public-impact infrastructure that enables inclusive access to services across languages and regions. He said BHASHINI is helping drive this transformation by strengthening the Indian language AI ecosystem and supporting solutions that can function in low-resource and offline environments.
The VYOMA Innovation Challenge invites startups, researchers, students, academic institutions, MSMEs, industry partners and independent innovators to develop new applications and improvements for the Sunno Sutra platform. Participants are encouraged to explore innovative use cases, hardware enhancements, model optimisation and deployment-ready solutions that can make the device more efficient and suitable for diverse field conditions.
Potential applications include sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, governance and public service delivery, with a focus on expanding access to AI technologies across India’s linguistic and geographic diversity.
The challenge will be conducted in multiple stages. Following an open application process, 20 shortlisted teams will receive developer kits and access to the Sunno Sutra platform to build and test their solutions. The participants will also receive technical mentorship from experts associated with BHASHINI and Current AI.
Finalists will present their prototypes before an expert jury. Winning teams will be eligible for prizes worth up to ₹80 lakh and may also receive opportunities to deploy their solutions with central and state government departments.
According to the ministry, the initiative seeks to promote collaboration among startups, MSMEs, researchers, engineers and academic institutions while accelerating the development of multilingual AI technologies that can serve citizens across the country.
