New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS): Microsoft India on Thursday announced the addition of four new languages -- Bhojpuri, Bodo, Dogri, and Kashmiri, to Translator -- expanding support to a total of 20 languages now.

Microsoft Translator now supports -- Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Bodo, Dogri, and Kashmiri.

This brings Microsoft Translator a step closer to its goal of supporting all 22 official Indian languages and now covers the languages spoken by almost 95 per cent of the country’s population, the company said.

“We stay committed to supporting India’s diverse languages and culture by leveraging the most advanced AI technology to drive the country’s growth and make access to technology more inclusive," Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director, India Development Center, Microsoft India, said in a statement.

The translation feature can be accessed through the Microsoft Translator app, Edge browser, Office 365, Bing Translator, and the Azure AI Translator API for businesses and developers, which is being used by companies such as Jio Haptik and Koo.

Microsoft's collaboration with Jio Haptik and the integration with Translator play a pivotal role in bridging linguistic divides and empowering India's diverse communities through technology access for all major Indian languages.

"This development is quite exciting for Haptik because it offers our customers the opportunity to be more inclusive and reach a wider audience. They can now provide support in languages like Bhojpuri, Bodo, Kashmiri, Dogri -- which is phenomenal," said Swapan Rajdev, Co-founder & CTO, Jio Haptik.

This new update will impact close to 61 million people and will open new economic opportunities for local artisans and businesses, allowing them to connect with a broader audience, the company stated.