Finnish phone-maker HMD bundles Indian AI chatbot onto new smartphone in push to reach local market

Finnish telephone shaper HMD contiguous launched its archetypal smartphone, called the Vibe 2 5G, which comes preloaded with Indian AI institution Sarvam’s chatbot Indus. Both companies had archetypal announced the concern during the India AI acme held successful New Delhi successful February.

The Indus app is powered by Sarvam’s locally trained 105-billion-parameter exemplary — a measurement of the AI’s standard and sophistication — and launched astatine the AI summit. The app supports 22 Indic languages and mid-sentence code-switching (the quality to fluidly premix languages mid-conversation, similar switching betwixt Hindi and English), which helps the adjunct amended recognize the discourse of a query. Currently, the exertion doesn’t enactment offline usage, and it doesn’t person immoderate integrated diagnostic with the instrumentality to invoke the AI adjunct done a shortcut.

The concern is simply a imaginable investigating crushed for some companies to gauge the appetite for an India-focused chatbot.

“With this partnership, the archetypal happening we privation to bash is get the Indus app to consumers,” said Ravi Kunwar, HMD’s CEO and Vice President for India and APAC, successful an interrogation with TechCrunch. “Once they commencement utilizing it, we volition determination to signifier 2 to absorption connected driving much traction and stickiness. Right now, by pre-loading the app, we privation to beryllium much accessible to users,” helium said.

The Vibe 2 5G is simply a mid-range Android telephone with a 6,000mAh artillery and a terms tag of ₹10,999($114). Kunwar added the devices successful the Vibe bid of smartphones volition besides get the chatbot, and the institution is besides expected to motorboat a diagnostic telephone with Sarvam AI integration successful the coming months.

That diagnostic telephone integration whitethorn yet beryllium much important for some companies. HMD held a 4% stock of India’s diagnostic telephone marketplace successful 2025, but its smartphone stock was negligible — the institution doesn’t adjacent look successful the apical 15, according to expert steadfast IDC.

While it’s aboriginal days for Indus, the download numbers bespeak that. Nearly 3 months aft its launch, the app has been downloaded conscionable implicit 293,000 times successful India crossed platforms, according to Appfigures. By comparison, ChatGPT was downloaded 43.9 cardinal times successful the country.

It’s a large gap, but the strategy down the HMD woody whitethorn substance much than the aboriginal numbers. Bundling a determination AI adjunct with affordable hardware — peculiarly diagnostic phones — is 1 of the much nonstop organisation plays disposable successful a marketplace arsenic ample and linguistically divers arsenic India, wherever English-language AI tools person constricted reach. For investors and operators watching however AI adoption gets seeded successful emerging markets, this concern is worthy tracking.

Sarvam has been 1 of India’s marquee AI startups. Beyond the Indus app launch, the institution has focused connected endeavor partnerships, especially for voice-based solutions. It is connected way to go 1 of the astir funded AI startups successful the country, with reports suggesting a backing circular of $300 cardinal astatine a $1.5 cardinal valuation is successful the works.