The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has launched the VYOMA Innovation Challenge
The challenge is conducted in collaboration with Current AI and Kalpa Impact
Objective: Promote development of open-source, multilingual, voice-first AI solutions that operate in offline and low-connectivity environments
Builds on Sunno Sutra, a multilingual, voice-first, open-source handheld AI reference device unveiled at IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026
Challenge invites startups, researchers, students, academic institutions, MSMEs, industry partners and independent innovators
Participants are encouraged to develop new use cases, hardware improvements, model optimization and deployment-ready applications
Twenty shortlisted teams will receive developer kits and access to the Sunno Sutra platform
Participants will receive technical mentorship from experts associated with BHASHINI and Current AI
Winning teams eligible for prizes worth up to ₹80 lakh (8 million rupees)
Deployment opportunities available with central and state government departments for winning teams
Applications are open at: https://bhashini.gov.in/sahyogi/hackathon/open-handheld-ai
BHASHINI platform powers over 800 government websites
Processes more than 15 million inferences daily
Supports 36 Indian text languages, 23 Indian voice languages, and 35 international languages
Potential applications span sectors including education, agriculture, healthcare, governance and public service delivery
