Project Indus: Hindi Language Model, Dialect Support & Inclusivity

The Indus Project: India’s Own Large Language Model

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Abstract

Project Indus is Tech Mahindra’s pioneering initiative to build a regionally inclusive Large Language Model (LLM) for Hindi and its 37 dialects. Tackling India’s linguistic diversity and low-resource language challenges, Indus leverages community-driven data collection, advanced tokenization, and ethical AI practices to deliver robust conversational support across business and society. Achieving top benchmarking results, scalable deployment, and open-source accessibility, Indus sets a new standard for responsible, high-impact Generative AI in underserved languages.

Advance Modal Components
Discover how Tech Mahindra’s Indus LLM is pioneering responsible, inclusive AI for India’s diverse languages

Key Insights

The GLOCAL Way: Scaling Region-Relevant LLMs

In recent years, Generative AI has become a buzzword, and people from all walks of life have begun to utilize it. This technology proved for the first time that machines could converse with humans intelligently in a language that humans could understand. This is Tech Mahindra’s unique foray into the world of LLMs, aiming to build and master this fascinating technology that will serve both business and society.

About the Author
Nikhil Malhotra
Chief Innovation Officer & Global Head – AI, Tech Mahindra
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Nikhil has been a researcher all his life and is now leading the growth of AI and Quantum Computing research within Tech Mahindra. His area of business research is how quantum Computing, AI, and neuroscience would inspire the growth of AI and the next change in society, business, and humanity. He has won numerous awards, including the 2020, 2021, and 2023 Innovation Congress awards, for being the most innovative leader in India.

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Nikhil has been a researcher all his life and is now leading the growth of AI and Quantum Computing research within Tech Mahindra. His area of business research is how quantum Computing, AI, and neuroscience would inspire the growth of AI and the next change in society, business, and humanity. He has won numerous awards, including the 2020, 2021, and 2023 Innovation Congress awards, for being the most innovative leader in India.

Nikhil is also a TEDx speaker and the author of a best-seller book – Courage, the Journey of an Innovator. One of his long-standing visions has been to enable machines to talk in the local Indian dialects. Most notably, he has spearheaded Project Indus, Tech Mahindra's seminal effort to build Indic LLM (homegrown large language model), which was successfully launched globally in June 2024.

Nikhil holds a master's degree in computing with a specialization in distributed computing from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, and is an avid physicist.

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Nilesh Brahme
Principal Technical Architect, Tech Mahindra
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Nilesh has over 25+ years of experience in IT. He has worked with Tech Mahindra all his career in various roles starting as Developer, Designer, Delivery Manager to Program Manager. Currently he is Lead Architect working with Makers Lab working in AI and Quantum Research.

Parminder Singh
Group Practice Head -AWS BU, Tech Mahindra
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Parminder Singh is a hands-on Executive with over twenty years of experience in pre-sales, technical architecture, solution building, AI/ML/GenAI, practice development, information security, DevSecOps and SRE.

Inderjeet Gurtatta
AVP –AWS BU, Tech Mahindra
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Inder Gurtatta is a seasoned Sales and Practice leader with over two decades working with clients and teams globally to assist with Cloud transformation with better business outcomes. Inder has led Tech Mahindra AWS business unit, signed up multiple strategic collaboration agreements with AWS, led a team of Sales and SMEs to enable GenAI transformation for Tech Mahindra’s clients.