Microsoft Extends Translator Support To Two More Indian Languages

Tech giant Microsoft has added two more Indian languages to its translator service.

The company’s two new additions of official Indian languages include Chhattisgarhi and Manipuri, besides, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Bhojpuri.

With this, Microsoft Translator now covers more than 95% of the Indian population, in terms of languages, the company said in a statement, adding that the latest development underscores the company’s dedication to democratise technology. 

It further said that it is committed to of support and empower the linguistic diversity of India through its innovative language technologies and solutions. 

Microsoft said that Chhattisgarhi is spoken by around 16 Mn people in the states of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Meanwhile, Manipuri is spoken by around 3 Mn people in the state of Manipur and by some communities in Assam and Tripura as well as some parts of Bangladesh and Myanmar. 

Microsoft India’s managing director Rajiv Kumar said, “We strive to make a profound impact through our products, leveraging advanced AI technologies that foster social inclusion and collaboration without barriers, contributing to India’s inclusive economic growth.”

He added that the company believes in the power of technology in empowering every person on the planet, providing people and communities access to information and opportunities and creating a positive impact in their lives.

The translator is powered by deep neural networks, a form of artificial intelligence that can learn from large amounts of data and produce natural-sounding translations. These networks are designed to capture the nuances and contexts of languages, which according to the company, results in more accurate and fluent translations. 

Currently, the company operates in India from offices across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, and Pune. The cumulative employee count of the company in India is more than 18,000 who are engaged in sales and marketing, research, development, and customer services. 

This is a new addition to Microsoft’s efforts to ramp up its operations in India, as it comes weeks after the company announced that it would train about 1 Lakh Indian developers on the latest AI technologies and tools. It said that with initiatives such as AI Odyssey, Microsoft aims to provide opportunities to developers to build solutions for India’s growth and showcase their talent to solve real-world problems.

The company reported a 39% surge in its operating revenue to INR 19,229.4 Cr in FY23, a 1.2X increase from INR 13,819.5 Cr in FY22.