BHASHINI, GeM Join Hands to Make Public Procurement Accessible in 22 Indian Languages

In a move to break language barriers in government procurement, the Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) and the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen multilingual digital capabilities across India's public procurement ecosystem.

The collaboration, launched under the ‘BHASHINI for Seva/Sanchalan—A BHASHINI Sahayogi Program’, seeks to integrate AI-powered language technologies into GeM’s platform, enabling buyers, sellers, MSMEs, startups, and entrepreneurs to access procurement services in their preferred languages.

The partnership will leverage BHASHINI, India’s National Language Digital Public Infrastructure, to support seamless interaction across 22 officially recognised Indian languages and other regional languages through voice-first technologies and generative AI solutions.

Under the agreement, GeM and BHASHINI will jointly work on multilingual digital resources through initiatives such as BHASHINI Udyat, Mitra, Appmitra, Sahyogi, and Pravakta. The collaboration will focus on translation API integration, domain-specific language models, multilingual glossaries, voice-enabled services, voice bots, and linguistic dataset development tailored for public procurement and government service delivery.

The initiative is expected to make procurement services more inclusive by reducing language barriers across seller onboarding, platform navigation, communication, and stakeholder engagement, thereby expanding access to government business opportunities.

Officials noted that multilingual technologies are increasingly critical for improving Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), particularly for MSMEs, startups, and businesses operating across diverse linguistic regions. The collaboration aims to ensure that language does not limit participation in government procurement or access to economic opportunities.

As part of the partnership, both organisations will also promote language data contributions through BhashaDaan, conduct awareness and capacity-building programmes, and encourage wider adoption of multilingual AI tools across institutions within the GeM ecosystem.

Highlighting the significance of the initiative, Ajit B Chavan, Additional CEO and Chief Seller Officer, GeM, said, “The collaboration aims to leverage BHASHINI’s AI-powered language technologies to break linguistic barriers in public procurement and make GeM more accessible to buyers and sellers across the country.”

Echoing the vision, Amitabh Nag, CEO, Digital India BHASHINI Division, said, “BHASHINI is committed to making digital public infrastructure truly inclusive by enabling citizens and enterprises to interact in their preferred Indian languages. Our collaboration with GeM will help democratise access to public procurement through multilingual and voice-enabled technologies, ensuring that language is no longer a barrier to participation.”

The partnership reinforces BHASHINI's role as India’s population-scale language infrastructure while supporting GeM’s vision of creating a transparent, efficient, and inclusive public procurement ecosystem with wider participation from buyers and sellers across the country.