Odisha explores AI partnership with Sarvam to strengthen public service delivery

The Odisha government on Saturday held a high-level strategic meeting with Indian artificial intelligence company Sarvam to explore a potential partnership aimed at building a secure, inclusive, and sovereign AI ecosystem in the state. The initiative aligns with Odisha’s Vision 2036 and Vision 2047, focusing on strengthening governance and public service delivery through population-scale AI applications.

The meeting was attended by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, the Minister for Electronics and IT, the Chief Secretary, senior state officials, and Sarvam’s leadership team. Discussions centred on developing shared, state-governed AI infrastructure, including secure computing systems and data platforms, to ensure that public data and AI models remain within Odisha’s trust boundary.

The state emphasised the deployment of voice-enabled AI applications across sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, e-governance, and public safety. These applications are expected to help citizens, especially those in rural, tribal, and low-literacy areas access government schemes, benefits, and grievance redressal mechanisms through conversational interfaces in the Odia language.

Both sides discussed a parallel one-year execution framework under which departments would prepare datasets and identify priority use cases while core AI infrastructure is commissioned, ensuring faster rollout of services. The discussions also highlighted the need to build long-term institutional capacity through training of government officials, applied research, and development of local technical talent.

The Odisha government indicated that the partnership may be formalised through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding during the Black Swan Summit scheduled for February 5 and 6, 2026, positioning Odisha as a national benchmark in citizen-centric AI governance.