Last Updated: February 2026

Sarvam is a Sanskrit word meaning “all” or “everything.” After using their Indus app—switching effortlessly between languages, having my code-mixed queries understood perfectly, and seeing AI respond with genuine cultural intelligence—the name makes perfect sense. It’s a fitting name for a company that aims to bring AI to everyone, everywhere in India, in the way they actually communicate. As they continue to build and scale, they might just live up to that ambitious promise.

Sarvam AI is India’s first sovereign large language model (LLM) platform designed specifically for multilingual and code-mixed conversations.

When most people think of cutting-edge AI, their minds immediately jump to Silicon Valley giants. But in a Bengaluru office, a relatively young startup is challenging that narrative in the most audacious way possible—by building artificial intelligence Sarvam AI that truly understands India.

Sarvam AI isn’t trying to be another ChatGPT clone. Instead, this two-year-old company is on a mission to create something far more ambitious: a full-stack sovereign AI platform designed from the ground up for India’s unique linguistic and cultural landscape.

Sarvam AI Review 2026: India’s Sovereign LLM

The Founders Who Saw a Gap

The story begins with two individuals who knew India’s AI landscape intimately. Dr. Vivek Raghavan, who had worked on India’s digital public infrastructure, and Dr. Pratyush Kumar, who led the country’s open-source AI efforts in Indian languages, founded Sarvam AI in August 2023. They saw something others might have missed: while global AI models were impressive, they weren’t built with India’s 1.4 billion people in mind.

Think about it—when was the last time you used an AI that seamlessly understood code-mixed conversations? You know, the way we actually talk: “Yaar, kal ka meeting cancel kar do, please.” That natural blending of Hindi and English, or Tamil and English, or any of the countless linguistic combinations that make up everyday Indian conversation. Most AI models stumble here. Sarvam doesn’t.

The Launch That Changed Everything

Fast forward to February 2026, and Sarvam AI just dropped a bombshell at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Two massive language models: Sarvam-30B and Sarvam-105B. The numbers refer to their parameters—essentially, their processing power and sophistication.

But here’s what makes these different: they’re built using mixture-of-experts architecture, which means they activate only the specific “experts” needed for each query, making them efficient without sacrificing performance. The 105B model, for instance, has 105 billion parameters but only activates about 9 billion per token, with a context window that can handle up to 128,000 tokens. In practical terms? It can process enormous amounts of information while remaining fast and cost-effective.

Just days after this announcement, they launched “Indus”—a chat app powered by these models, available on iOS, Android, and web. Users can type or speak their queries and get responses in both text and audio. It’s still in beta, rolling out gradually as they scale up compute capacity, but it’s already making waves.

AI That Goes Where Indians Actually Are

Here’s where Sarvam’s vision gets really interesting. While other companies race to put AI into premium smartphones and enterprise software, Sarvam is thinking about the hundreds of millions of Indians who don’t own a smartphone at all.

They’ve partnered with HMD to bring conversational AI to Nokia and HMD feature phones. Yes, those basic phones with physical keypads. Imagine a farmer in rural Madhya Pradesh pressing a dedicated AI button and asking in Hindi about government schemes or local market prices—without needing a smartphone, without needing an internet connection. That’s the kind of democratization Sarvam is pursuing.

They’re also working with Bosch on AI for automotive applications and developing their own hardware—the Sarvam Kaze smart glasses. These aren’t just another tech gimmick. They’re designed and manufactured in India, support over 10 Indian languages, and promise real-time translation and voice-based interaction. The company calls them a “builders’ device,” and they’re slated for a May 2026 release.

Sovereign AI: More Than Just a Buzzword

The term “sovereign AI” could easily sound like corporate jargon, but for Sarvam, it’s core to their philosophy. It means building AI infrastructure that’s developed, deployed, and governed entirely within India. It means data stays in India. It means Indian developers have full control and agency over the tools they use.

This isn’t just idealism—it’s backed by serious governmental support. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology selected Sarvam as one of the companies to develop indigenous foundational models under the IndiaAI Mission. They’ve been granted access to government-supported compute infrastructure, including thousands of GPUs for model training. Tamil Nadu even signed a ₹10,000 crore MoU with them to establish India’s first Sovereign AI Park.

The Enterprise Play

While the consumer-facing products grab headlines, Sarvam has been quietly building a strong enterprise presence. Their partnership with Tata Capital showcases this perfectly. By embedding multilingual interactions across consumer loan products, they’re helping reach more customers, breaking down access barriers, and deepening engagement—all in a cost-effective manner.

They’ve also developed specialized tools: Saaras V3 for speech-to-text across multiple Indian languages, and Sarvam Vision for document understanding and OCR in Indian scripts. These aren’t flashy, but they solve real problems that Indian businesses face every day.

The Competitive Landscape

India has become a battleground for AI adoption. OpenAI’s Sam Altman recently revealed that ChatGPT has over 100 million weekly active users in India. That’s massive penetration. But it also proves the market is there—and it’s hungry for AI that truly gets India.

Sarvam is part of a growing cohort of Indian startups attempting to build domestic alternatives. With $41 million in funding from heavyweight investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners, and Khosla Ventures, they’re well-positioned to compete. Their team has grown to over 100 employees, all working toward this singular vision.

Taking Indus for a Test Drive: A Hands-On Demo

To truly understand what makes Sarvam AI special, let’s walk through actually using their Indus app. I downloaded it from the Play Store (it’s also available on iOS and the web at indus.sarvam.ai), and what I experienced was eye-opening.

Getting Started

The setup is refreshingly simple:

1. Download the app (search “Indus by Sarvam”)
2. Sign in with your phone number, Google account, or Apple ID
3. You might hit a waitlist initially as they’re scaling compute capacity
4. Once in, you’re greeted with a clean chat interface

The Magic of Code-Mixing

Here’s where things get interesting. Most AI chatbots force you to pick a language and stick with it. Real conversations in India don’t work that way. So I decided to test Indus the way I’d actually talk to a friend:

My query: “Yaar, kal subah 7 baje ka alarm set karna hai. Also, can you suggest some good breakfast places near Indiranagar?”

Notice what I did there? I started in Hindi-English code-mix, then switched to full English mid-sentence. This is exactly how millions of Indians communicate daily. ChatGPT would probably stumble or ask me to pick one language.

Indus’s response came back naturally understanding both parts of my query. It didn’t ask me to clarify. It didn’t get confused. It just… worked. It understood the code-mixing, maintained context, and responded appropriately—suggesting I set the alarm through my phone’s clock app while also providing breakfast recommendations for Indiranagar.

Voice First, Text Second

The next test was voice. I tapped the microphone icon and said: “मुझे अपने बच्चे के लिए एक birthday poem लिखना है, कुछ creative suggestions दो”

(Translation: “I need to write a birthday poem for my child, give me some creative suggestions”)

Within seconds, Indus had transcribed my code-mixed Hindi-English request perfectly and generated creative poem ideas that incorporated both languages naturally. The transcription accuracy—even with my slight Tamil accent influencing my Hindi pronunciation—was impressive. This isn’t just speech-to-text; it’s understanding how Indians actually speak.

The Document Intelligence Feature

This is where Indus showed its enterprise chops. I uploaded a PDF of a Hindi-language government circular about a new housing scheme. Most AI tools would either:

• Refuse to process non-English PDFs
• Give a rough translation that misses context
• Require me to first translate, then ask questions

I asked: “इस document में किन लोगों को ये scheme मिलेगी?”
(Who is eligible for this scheme according to this document?)

Indus read the PDF, understood the Hindi text, and provided a clear summary of eligibility criteria—all in Hindi. When I followed up in English asking “What are the income limits?”, it seamlessly switched languages while maintaining context from the Hindi document.

The Real-World Test: Mixed Language Content Creation

Here’s a scenario that’s uniquely Indian: I needed to draft a WhatsApp message to a community group about organizing a festival event. The group has members who prefer different languages.

I said: “Draft a message for my society WhatsApp group about Holi celebration. Keep it friendly, mix Hindi and English, and include details about timing and contribution.”

Indus generated a perfectly natural message that any Indian would actually send:

“Namaste everyone! 🙏 This year हम society में grand Holi celebration कर रहे हैं! Date: March 14th, time: 10 AM onwards. We’re planning organic colors, music, और traditional snacks. Per family contribution: ₹500. अगर आप help करना चाहते हैं organizing में, please msg me. Let’s make this year’s Holi memorable! 🎨”

This isn’t just translation—it’s cultural intelligence. The emoji placement, the natural code-mixing, the way it structures the information… it feels authentically Indian.

What Makes This Different?

After spending time with Indus, here’s what genuinely stands out:

1. Token Efficiency: Sarvam’s tokenizer is 2-4x more efficient for Indian languages. In technical terms, this means the same sentence costs less to process and generates faster. For users, it means the app is snappier and more responsive when working in Hindi, Tamil, or any Indian language compared to using ChatGPT.

2. Context Preservation: The 128,000 token context window in the 105B model means it can handle massive amounts of information without losing track. I tested this by uploading a 50-page Malayalam document and asking questions about specific sections. It maintained accuracy throughout.

3. No Language Switching Friction: With global AI models, switching languages mid-conversation often confuses the model or breaks context. With Indus, I could ask one question in Tamil, follow up in English, throw in some Hindi, and it never missed a beat. This mirrors how actual conversations happen in Indian households.

4. Voice Quality: The speech-to-text (Saaras V3) handles real-world conditions—background noise, cross-talk, strong accents—far better than generic solutions. I tested this in a noisy café, and it still captured my code-mixed query accurately.

5. Script Flexibility: You can type in Devanagari, Tamil script, or Roman transliteration (like “aaj kal kya chal raha hai”). The system handles all three seamlessly. This matters because many Indians, especially younger ones, prefer typing Indian languages in Roman script.

The Limitations (Yes, They Exist)

In beta testing, I noticed a few rough edges:

• Can’t delete individual chats (you have to delete your whole account to clear history)
• No way to disable the reasoning mode
• The web version occasionally lags during peak hours (they’re scaling compute)
• Still on a gradual rollout, so access can be limited

But these feel like growing pains, not fundamental flaws.

The Bigger Picture: AI That Understands India

What struck me most wasn’t any single feature—it was the cumulative effect. For the first time, I was using an AI that didn’t make me feel like I was translating my thoughts into “AI-friendly” language. I could be myself: messy, multilingual, culturally Indian.

When the AI understands that “डिनर के लिए कहीं बढ़िया place suggest करो near MG Road” is a perfectly normal way to ask for restaurant recommendations, when it knows what “jugaad” means without explanation, when it can draft a formal letter in Marathi without losing cultural nuances—that’s when AI stops being a foreign tool and becomes genuinely useful.

Why This Matters

There’s something profound happening here that goes beyond tech specs and funding rounds. For decades, India has been a consumer of technology built elsewhere, adapted (sometimes poorly) for Indian markets. Sarvam represents a different paradigm: India as a creator of foundational AI technology.

When an AI model truly understands the nuances of Indian languages, when it can process the cultural context embedded in our conversations, when it can work on a feature phone in a village with spotty internet—that’s when AI stops being a luxury for the English-speaking elite and becomes a tool for everyone.

The demo experience with Indus proves this isn’t just vision—it’s reality, right now. The seamless code-mixing, the voice accuracy, the document understanding in native scripts—these aren’t marketing claims. They’re working features that solve real problems Indians face every day.

Try It Yourself

Want to experience this firsthand? Here’s how to get started:

For Consumers:

• Download Indus from the Play Store or App Store
• Or visit indus.sarvam.ai on your browser
• Sign up and try asking questions in your preferred language mix
• Test the voice feature—speak naturally, don’t simplify your language
• Upload a document in an Indian language and ask questions about it

For Developers:

• Visit sarvam.ai/apis to explore their API offerings
• Check out their Saaras V3 for speech-to-text integration
• Explore Bulbul for text-to-speech in Indian languages
• Look into their Vision API for document OCR in Indian scripts

The best way to understand why Sarvam is different is to use it the way you naturally communicate—not the way you think an AI wants you to communicate.

The Road Ahead

It’s still early days. The Indus app is in beta. The smart glasses are coming in May. Many of the partnerships are just being announced. But the momentum is undeniable.

What Sarvam AI is building isn’t just another AI company—it’s infrastructure for a new digital India. One where language isn’t a barrier, where a farmer and a software engineer have equal access to AI capabilities, where data sovereignty isn’t an afterthought but a foundational principle.

Will they succeed in competing with the global giants? Time will tell. But what’s already clear is that they’re asking the right questions and building for the right audience: the diverse, multilingual, complex, and incredibly vast Indian market.

And in doing so, they’re not just building AI for India—they’re showing the world what happens when AI is built from India, with all the linguistic richness, cultural depth, and innovative spirit that entails.

Sarvam AI Pricing: What Does It Cost?

One of Sarvam AI’s advantages is transparent, affordable pricing designed for the Indian market. Here’s the breakdown:

Free Credits

• Every new user gets ₹1,000 in free credits
• No monthly subscription required
• Pay-per-use model—only pay when you need more

API Pricing (Per Usage)

• Chat Completion (Sarvam-2B): Free (₹0/token)
• Speech-to-Text (Saaras V3): ₹30/hour
• Speech-to-Text with Diarization: ₹45/hour
• Text-to-Speech (Bulbul): ₹15/10K characters
• Translation & Transliteration: ₹30/10K characters
• Document Parsing (Vision API): Free during February 2026, then ₹0/page

For context, this is significantly cheaper than international alternatives, especially for Indian language processing where Sarvam’s token efficiency (2-4x better) means even lower effective costs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• AI
• https://www.sarvam.ai/blogs/introducing-indus

Conclusion: India’s AI Revolution Has Arrived

Sarvam AI represents more than just technological innovation—it’s a fundamental shift in how India approaches artificial intelligence. After years of adapting foreign technology to Indian needs, we finally have an AI platform built from the ground up with India’s linguistic diversity, cultural nuances, and unique challenges in mind.

The hands-on demo with Indus reveals what’s possible when AI truly understands how Indians communicate. The seamless code-mixing, accurate voice recognition with regional accents, intelligent document processing in native scripts, and cultural awareness in content generation aren’t just impressive features—they’re game-changers that make AI accessible to millions who were previously left out.

What makes Sarvam’s approach revolutionary is its commitment to democratization. While global tech giants focus on premium users and urban markets, Sarvam is bringing AI to feature phones, building hardware in India, and ensuring that a Tamil-speaking farmer has the same access to AI capabilities as a Bangalore software engineer.

The road ahead is ambitious: competing with global giants like OpenAI and Google requires sustained innovation, scaling infrastructure, and maintaining quality while expanding rapidly. But with $41 million in funding, strong government backing through the IndiaAI Mission, strategic partnerships with companies like HMD and Bosch, and a growing team of 100+ employees, Sarvam is well-positioned for this challenge.

More importantly, they’re solving a problem that matters. When 1.4 billion people can interact with AI in their natural language—mixing Hindi and English, typing in Tamil script, speaking in code-mixed conversations—AI stops being a foreign import and becomes a truly Indian tool.

Whether you’re a consumer looking for an AI that understands how you actually talk, a developer building applications for the Indian market, or an enterprise seeking multilingual AI solutions, Sarvam AI deserves your attention. Download Indus, test it with your natural language mix, and experience firsthand what happens when AI is built for India, by India.

The future of AI in India won’t be written in Silicon Valley—it’s being coded in Bengaluru, and Sarvam is leading the charge.

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