VoicERA Launched on BHASHINI National Infrastructure at India AI Impact Summit 2026
VoicERA Launched on BHASHINI National Infrastructure at India AI Impact Summit 2026
The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD), under the Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), marked a major milestone in India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) journey with the launch of VoicERA, an open source, end to end Voice AI stack, at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. The launch was led by Shri Amitabh Nag, CEO, Digital India BHASHINI Division with EkStep Foundation, in collaboration with COSS, IIIT Bengaluru, and AI4Bharat.
Deployed on the BHASHINI National Language Infrastructure, VoicERA establishes a national execution layer for multilingual Voice and Language AI. Designed to be open, pluggable, interoperable, cloud deployable, and on premise ready, the platform enables secure and scalable deployment of voice systems across government, research institutions, and innovation ecosystems. By modularising the voice stack, it reduces duplication of effort and eliminates vendor lock in.
The integration of VoicERA strengthens BHASHINI’s role as India’s national language infrastructure, expanding its capabilities from translation and language technologies to real time speech systems, conversational AI, and multilingual telephony at population scale. Departments can rapidly onboard voice enabled citizen services across sectors including agriculture advisories, education support, livelihood services, grievance redressal, citizen feedback, and scheme discovery.
Speaking at the launch, Shri Amitabh Nag, Chief Executive Officer, Digital India BHASHINI Division, stated, “With BHASHINI as national language infrastructure and VoicERA as the open execution stack, India is entering a new phase of Digital Public Infrastructure where voice becomes the most natural interface for Bharat. This framework enables secure, scalable multilingual systems while empowering innovators to build on a shared national foundation. It is about dignity, access, and ensuring every citizen can speak to the State and be understood. This marks the beginning of a new Voice Era, and in this era, India owns its voice.”
Mr Santosh Kevlani, Voice AI Strategist and Advisor associated with the initiative, stated, “VoicERA is designed as digital public good for voice, enabling interoperable, execution ready deployment without reconstructing entire technology stacks.”
Mr Shankar Maruwada, Co Founder and Chief Executive Officer, EkStep Foundation, stated, “Over the past three years, BHASHINI has demonstrated the power of language as Digital Public Infrastructure. With VoicERA, that vision now extends to voice, strengthening equitable access for citizens at national scale.”
Mr Mitesh Kapra, IIT Madras, stated, “The continued expansion of BHASHINI, integrated with VoicERA, will accelerate sovereign language and voice capabilities and deepen inclusive AI innovation.”
The launch further strengthens BHASHINI’s position as India’s population scale Language and Voice Infrastructure, enabling secure, inclusive, and interoperable AI systems that power next generation public service delivery across sectors and geographies.
VoicERA is available for live demonstration at the BHASHINI Pavilion and at the EkStep Pavilion, Hall No. 3, First Floor, Bharat Mandapam.