 "AI firm Krutrim to power Kumbh Sahayak App for Maha Kumbh Mela 2025")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath officially launched Kumbh Sah'AI'yak, the first-ever AI-powered chatbot for Maha Kumbh, on Friday. This digital companion serves as a free 24/7 guide, offering navigation assistance and cultural insights tailored to each visitor’s journey. Bhavish Aggarwal-led artificial intelligence firm Krutrim will deliver hosted open-source LLM (large language model) services for the chatbot.
“With this innovation, we celebrate the convergence of heritage and progress, while remaining steadfast in our commitment to driving India’s journey towards digital empowerment and technological independence, fuelled by our investments in AI, chip designing, and cloud infrastructure,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola and Krutrim.
Kumbh Sah'AI'yak is a flagship initiative under the Prime Minister’s vision for a Digital Mahakumbh. It demonstrates the potential of technology to enhance inclusivity, sustainability, and the overall spiritual experience. It also sets a benchmark for large-scale public gatherings globally, combining tradition with innovation.
An initiative of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Kumbh Sah’AI’yak has been developed by the Prayagraj Mela Authority and UPDESCO, in close collaboration with Samagra as the anchor partner. Also Read: Maha Kumbh Mela 2025: Know how and where to book your accommodation
Playing a critical role in the product’s success, Bhashini is the official language translation service partner, while Krutrim is delivering its cutting-edge hosted open-source LLM services. PNB has provided CSR support for the technology infrastructure, while the Gates Foundation has contributed philanthropic support for the product development.
The Kumbh Sah'AI'yak app is designed to serve crores of pilgrims and ensures real-time, uninterrupted responses. Supporting Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, and Bengali, the chatbot offers a user-friendly interface with clickable options, voice commands, and media-enriched content.
More From This Section
The platform allows pilgrims to easily navigate the Mela area, offering guidance on various topics such as the history, rituals, and significance of Maha Kumbh, travel and accommodation options, and key attractions around Prayagraj. Additionally, with strong security measures in place to ensure privacy and prevent misinformation, the chatbot offers a seamless, safe, and enriching experience for all attendees.
The launch of Kumbh Sah'AI'yak marks a significant milestone in Krutrim’s mission to boost India’s AI capabilities. At Ola’s flagship event, Sankalp 2024, Krutrim unveiled its AI and cloud roadmap. The company announced the first family of chips called Bodhi for AI, Sarv for General Compute, and Ojas for Edge. The company will design and produce India’s first AI silicon chip by 2026, custom-built for complex AI workloads. Krutrim will also launch Bodhi 2 by 2028. It announced strategic partnerships with Arm and Untether AI to establish its footing in silicon technology by 2026.
Krutrim also announced over 50 new services on its cloud, making it ready for most applications needed by Indian developers. The infrastructure services include Virtual Machines (VMs), Cloud Storage, state-of-the-art security measures for data protection, and observability features for precise data monitoring. Additionally, the AI cloud services announced were AI Pods to enable low-cost access to best-in-class GPUs and AI Studio for building compound AI applications. Other features include a Model Catalog with the latest LLMs and vision models.
To support the company’s AI and cloud initiatives, Krutrim announced its plans to scale up its data centre capacity to a massive 1 GW by 2028. The data centre will be a computing and data storage powerhouse, enabling the firm to offer AI services to India and globally.