Odisha Explores Strategic Partnership with Sarvam AI for Sovereign Odia-First Ecosystem
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is set to embark on a landmark collaboration with Sarvam AI to establish a sovereign, Odia-first artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the high-level meeting brought together senior officials from Electronics & IT, Finance, and other departments to chart out the roadmap.
The initiative aligns with Odisha’s Vision 2036 and Vision 2047, aiming to build state-governed AI infrastructure with secure compute resources and indigenous data platforms.
This will ensure that public data remains under Odisha’s control while enabling population-scale applications in education, agriculture, healthcare, e-governance, and public safety.
A parallel one-year rollout has been planned, where departments will prepare datasets and identify priority use cases while infrastructure is simultaneously developed.
The government also intends to invest in capacity building, training officials, fostering applied research, and nurturing local talent to independently manage AI systems.
The partnership is expected to be formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the upcoming Black Swan Summit scheduled for February 5–6, 2026.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik emphasised that Odisha must become a harbinger of technology, while Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena highlighted the democratisation of AI for citizens.
Sarvam AI’s co-founder welcomed the state’s sovereign AI vision, calling it a benchmark for citizen-centric and transparent governance.
This initiative positions Odisha as a national leader in indigenous AI adoption, setting a precedent for other states to follow.
