HMD India has teamed up with Indian AI startup Sarvam AI to introduce Artificial Intelligence to feature phones. This collaboration, announced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, aims to integrate the Sarvam Personal Assistant into Nokia feature phones and HMD devices. The move is set to provide advanced AI capabilities to a wide user base in India, particularly non-smartphone users.
Ravi Kunwar, Vice President and CEO of HMD India and APAC, expressed pride in witnessing Sarvam showcase its indigenous AI capabilities on their feature phone before the Prime Minister. Kunwar emphasized that this partnership signifies a significant stride in their mission to democratize AI, ensuring that intelligent and localized AI experiences are accessible to both smartphone and feature phone users.
HMD India plans to introduce AI-powered features across various feature phone models in the upcoming months. This strategic step is aimed at making AI inclusive and easily accessible to millions of feature phone users in India. A notable highlight of the summit was a live demonstration of Sarvam’s AI technology on an HMD Nokia feature phone, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed.
The live demo exhibited real-time speech recognition, translation, and text-to-speech capabilities in 10 Indian languages, all functioning seamlessly without the need for an internet connection. This successful demonstration underscores the robustness of on-device AI technology. The event underscored India’s increasing focus on developing inclusive and locally crafted AI solutions.
The partnership between HMD India and Sarvam AI aligns with the summit’s theme of “Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya,” emphasizing technology for the welfare and benefit of all. Sarvam AI’s technology, developed under the IndiaAI Mission, concentrates on India’s linguistic and cultural diversity. By offering voice-based AI services in regional languages, the collaboration aims to bridge the digital gap and simplify access to digital services.
Users will soon be able to access information, manage daily tasks, and utilize digital services effortlessly through voice commands in their preferred regional language. This initiative is anticipated to establish a new standard for inclusive AI innovation in India, further solidifying the country’s position as a rising global AI leader.
