IIT Bombay incorporated BharatGen Technology Foundation on Nov 7, 2025, to commercialize its indigenous Large Language Model supporting 22+ Indian languages. Backed by Rs 1,058 Cr from MeitY under IndiaAI Mission, it aims to deliver culturally attuned AI for startups and enterprises.
IIT Bombay has taken a bold step into AI entrepreneurship by registering BharatGen Technology Foundation—a Section 8 company fully owned by the institute. Unlike typical spin-offs, this corporate entity at Powai campus will bridge lab research to market, developing multimodal LLMs (text, speech, vision) reflecting India's linguistic diversity.
Prof Ganesh Ramakrishnan, founder-director, emphasized corporate autonomy for scaling models trained on homegrown datasets. The initiative, initially funded Rs 235 Cr by DST's NM-ICPS, now secures Rs 1,058 Cr from MeitY, partnering IITs Madras, Kanpur, and others. BharatGen will release distilled models, enabling developers to build sovereign AI without massive compute costs.
This positions India in the global AI race with culturally relevant tech amid Western model dominance.
Key Highlights
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Company: BharatGen Tech Foundation (Nov 7 registration)
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Scope: Multimodal LLM for 22+ Indian languages
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Funding: Rs 1,058 Cr MeitY + Rs 235 Cr DST
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Partners: IIT Madras, Kanpur, IIIT Hyderabad et al
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Impact: Distilled models for startups; sovereign AI push
Sources: Times of India