With AI and digital technology spearheading major transformations globally, India is also in the midst of a fascinating digital revolution, redefining the way we work, communicate, and connect. A quiet but powerful shift is underway in the world of advertising and customer engagement: the rise of vernacular AI.
It’s about vernacular connection
India has a very diverse and large linguistic spectrum with only 10% of the population that speaks in English while the majority prefer regional languages like Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada and so on.
People from Tier2 and Tier3 cities speak, read and write mostly in their mother tongue or regional languages.
For millions of first-time internet users, English ads can feel distant and impersonal. But when they see an ad in their mother tongue, something clicks. It feels familiar, trustworthy, and human. Studies have shown that over 75% of new internet users in India prefer content in their local language (KPMG). It’s not just about translation, it’s about connection.
New Tools for vernacular content
Ad platforms and startups are building tools specifically for vernacular content. For instance, Bhashini, is an Indian government led initiative by the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology, with the goal to create an AI-driven language translation platform, APIs, language interfaces, making digital services available to every citizen in their native tongue.
BharatGPT is designed to facilitate multilingual capabilities, including text, voice, video in Indian languages. It is the only Indian Indigenous Generative AI platform available in 14+ languages and is soon planning to expand to 22 official languages.
Zomato exhibits excellent vernacular marketing implementation, delivering over 150,000 orders per month through regional language versions of its app. Hindi accounts for 54% and Tamil for 11% of these orders, while other regional languages are rapidly expanding. Swiggy, the online food ordering app, is also working towards developing vernacular AI feature.
Vernacular campaigns
Brands like Meesho, an online marketplace, does 90% of its campaigning in local Indian languages and this has helped them to reach the expanding number of digital consumers in India. They also engage nano and micro influencers that help in building customer engagement in local languages. Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra are e-commerce sites that frequently use regional language ads to reach non-metro users.
Research has shown that a substantial number of online shoppers would make purchases where they would easily understand information given in their local languages. Customer engagements done on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or other mediums with micro influencers, in native languages has been very rewarding too. It's a mutually beneficial situation for the brand, the influencer and the customer
In a country like India, making ads in regional languages reaches a far bigger audience in comparison to ads made in English. Platforms like Haptik, BhashAI, Gupshup, etc. offer multilingual voice bots that solve customer queries in 20+ regional languages.
Brands are undoubtedly able to establish more meaningful connections with India's heterogeneous population thanks to regional-language AI technologies and vernacular advertisements. But still there is scope for improvement ranging from more natural-sounding voice bots to improved interpretation of dialects. Vernacular AI will become more than just a growth lever as the ecosystem develops; it will be a vital part of digital India's future.
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