Bhubaneswar, Jan 24: The Government of Odisha on Friday held a high-level strategic meeting with the leadership of Sarvam, an Indian artificial intelligence company, as part of the State’s ongoing efforts to build a secure, inclusive, and sovereign artificial intelligence ecosystem aligned with Vision 2036 and Vision 2047.
The discussions focused on establishing artificial intelligence as a long-term public capability, with emphasis on sovereign infrastructure, population-scale applications across key sectors, and durable institutional capacity within the State.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Minister of Odisha, the Minister for Electronics & IT, the Chief Secretary, the Principal Secretary (Electronics & IT), the Principal Secretary, Finance, senior State officials, and the leadership team of Sarvam.
During the discussions, the Government of Odisha outlined its approach to developing shared, sovereign AI infrastructure, including secure compute and state-governed data platforms, to ensure that public data, AI models, and intelligence systems remain within Odisha’s trust boundary. The shared infrastructure is envisioned as a common resource for departments, enabling scale, security, and long-term sustainability while avoiding fragmented investments.
The Government also emphasised the deployment of population-scale, voice-enabled AI applications across sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, e-governance, and public safety. These systems are intended to strengthen last-mile delivery of government schemes by enabling citizens—particularly in rural, tribal, and low-literacy contexts—to access information on entitlements, benefits, and grievance redressal through simple conversational interfaces.
To enable timely implementation, both sides discussed a parallel one-year execution framework, under which departments would prepare datasets, identify priority use cases, and develop applications alongside the commissioning of core AI infrastructure, ensuring that services are rollout-ready without delay.
The discussions also underscored the need to build durable institutional capacity, including training of government officials, support for applied research, and development of local technical talent, to ensure AI systems can be governed, sustained, and evolved by the State over the long term.
The State also indicated that it is planning to formalise the partnership through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the Black Swan Summit scheduled to be held on 5th and 6th February 2026.
Sarvam is an Indian artificial intelligence company focused on building foundational AI models and systems for public-sector and large-scale governance use cases, with particular emphasis on speech, language, and population-scale deployments suited to Indian contexts. Its work positions it as a potential indigenous partner aligned with Odisha’s objectives of building sovereign AI capabilities.
Speaking after the meeting, the Chief Minister said, “Odisha must follow a model where we do not merely adopt technology, but become a harbinger of technology for others to follow. Artificial intelligence gives us an opportunity to set new benchmarks in governance and public service delivery.”
The Chief Secretary said, “It is high time that Odisha emerges as a leader in technology, especially in artificial intelligence, through the true democratisation of AI—ensuring its benefits reach citizens across sectors and geographies.”
The Minister for Electronics & IT reiterated the importance of AI in high-impact domains such as agriculture and healthcare, noting that population-scale deployment in these sectors can deliver tangible improvements in livelihoods and well-being, while also reducing the burden on frontline workers.
The Principal Secretary, Finance, noted that, “Artificial intelligence is all-pervasive in nature. If deployed thoughtfully, it can truly help in democratising AI resources across the State, ensuring equitable access for departments, districts, and citizens alike.”
The Principal Secretary, Electronics & IT, reiterated the State’s commitment to secure, shared, and scalable AI infrastructure that avoids long-term dependency and fragmented deployment.
Speaking on behalf of Sarvam, Pratyush Kumar, Co-founder, said, “Odisha’s focus on sovereign AI and population-scale public impact reflects a clear understanding of how artificial intelligence can strengthen governance. We look forward to working closely with the State to translate this vision into durable public systems.”
The Government of Odisha reaffirmed that its AI roadmap will remain inclusive and outcome-driven, with a strong emphasis on last mile service delivery, transparency, and long-term state capacity, positioning Odisha as a national benchmark for citizen-centric and responsible use of artificial intelligence.
