Union Budget 2021: Can the National Language Translation Mission make signing up in Indian vernaculars a norm?

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When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new initiative for translating governance and policy-related documents online into major Indian languages, Ajay Data, CEO, and founder, Xgen Technologies, could scarcely contain his excitement.

This one single step, he pointed out, could give a major boost to the Indian language ecosystem and ``help improve access to thousands who cannot read English.”

To be sure, it would mean much better business opportunities for his company, which operates in the email and translation space. "The government might float a tender and invite companies to participate in the process. So, it is a business opportunity for the sector," he explained.

But Data’s enthusiasm reflects the elation of countless others who are in the business of using Indian languages.

What are we talking about?

During her Budget speech, Sitharaman said, “We will undertake a new initiative – National Language Translation Mission (NTLM). This will enable a wealth of governance-and-policy related knowledge on the internet being made available in major Indian languages.”

While finer details are not yet available, it could mean that official documents in English or Hindi can be translated to other major Indian languages such Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, or Malayalam, which is not the case right now.

Apart from Xgen Technologies that offers translation in 22 Indian languages, companies like DheeYatra, and Reverie Technologies, which have built capabilities in Indian languages, could also gain immensely.

According to Data, business opportunities in this domain totals to about $10 billion. An Inc42 report pegs possibilities in the vernacular content market to be $53 billion. This comes at the back of growing local language internet users in the country.

A 2020 report by market research firm WATConsult, estimates that 70 percent of internet users access content in Indian languages. There were about 500 million active internet users aged five and above, according to a report released in early 2020 by the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Nielsen.

Beyond business

But beyond business, according to Data, this will have two important effects.

One, it removes the language barrier and makes it more inclusive. According to the 2011 Census, only about 10 percent of India’s population can speak English. Each Indian state has its own official language and accessing government documents in a language a local reader can understand, has been a huge challenge.

If this initiative fructifies, crucial documents would be accessible across the country in a language of peoples’ choice.

Two, it will give a big impetus to the Indian language technology ecosystem in the country. This segment has been growing at a fast pace and has the potential to grow further. The case in point is the increased focus on Indian languages by global tech majors Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

The technology giants have recently extended their services to more Indian languages. For instance, Google added search query results to Tamil, Telugu, Bangla and Marathi, apart from Hindi. E-commerce major Amazon's website and App supports Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu to reach out to a wide range of consumers.

However, all these users will sign up using email IDs in English and not in the respective local language they support. In addition, the website domain names too are in English.

That is why just translating the content is half the work done, explains Data.

Work is half done

“So, if you are translating the content to Indian languages, what about the website name? Can people sign up with their email in the local language?” asks Data.

At present, no. Except for Xgen Technologies, no company in the country offers services to create an email ID in a regional language.

In addition, while websites currently promote Indian language content, hardly do any of them have technology backup for Indian language email IDs. “So, if someone wants to sign up for an initiative online, say Mann Ki Baat for example, they will have to use an English email ID because systems do not support Indic languages,” explained Data.

To make full use of the local language medium, it is important to have domain name and local language support for email IDs as well. That is what the Indian ecosystem lacks.

Limited use cases, no widespread adoption

Widespread adoption is one of the major challenges, points out Data. This is despite the government push. In 2014, the Indian government launched domain names in Hindi, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Marathi, Konkani, Nepali, and Sindhi languages.

During the launch of the domain names, Union IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said that for local language content to grow, it is important for the websites to be in local languages as well.

Six years down the line, there is hardly any improvement with only a handful of companies that support regional languages. Xgen Technologies, which offers email management software solution enterprises, started supporting Indic language domain names and email ID in 2017.

It is among the few private companies - if not the only one - in this space that offers this service. The company works with state governments and enterprises in India and overseas.

An -business-opportunity-in-the-vernacular-content-market-of-india/">Inc42 report pegs possibilities in the vernacular content market to be $53 billion.