Nashik, (UNI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today launched the app ‘Kumbhdoot AI Agent for Every Pilgrimage’ at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi. The application has been developed to provide guidance and assistance to devotees attending the upcoming Simhastha Kumbh Mela in Nashik.
The initiative outlines an “Agentic Kumbh” model for Nashik Simhastha 2027, under which every registered pilgrim will be supported by a personal, voice-first AI agent integrated with India’s Digital Public Infrastructure.
The app launch ceremony was attended by Minister of Information Technology Adv. Ashish Shelar; Minister of Ports development and Fisheries Nitesh Rane; Chief Secretary Rajesh Aggarwal; Information Technology Secretary Virendra Singh; Nashik Divisional Commissioner and Nashik Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority (NTKMA) Head Dr Pravin Gedam; and NTKMA Commissioner Shekhar Singh, along with senior officials and technology partners.
The proposed framework envisions assigning each pilgrim a multilingual AI assistant, “Kumbh Doot,” capable of operating in 20 Indian languages and accessible via smartphones, feature phones (through IVR), and on-ground kiosks.
The system focuses on strengthening two critical layers of Kumbh management: Access Services (housing, transport, registration, identity) and Experience Services (payments, language assistance, cultural discovery, spiritual guidance and digital donations). Core infrastructure, crowd control, and law-and-order functions will continue under existing government protocols, with defined data interfaces for anonymised demand signals and emergency coordination .
The architecture is designed as a privacy-first, consent-driven ecosystem built on India Stack components such as DigiLocker, UPI, ONDC, ABDM, and Account Aggregator frameworks. Aadhaar verification remains optional. No centralised citizen database will be created, and all data sharing will be time-bound and permission-based.
The system is engineered to support up to 10 million peak pilgrims, 25 million registered agents, and 50,000 messages per second during peak snan days, with sovereign cloud deployment and built-in resilience. A pilot deployment involving 10,000 participants across Nashik colleges is planned ahead of full-scale rollout for Simhastha 2027 .
Speaking at the launch, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Nashik Simhastha 2027 will demonstrate how faith and frontier technology can coexist responsibly, ensuring dignity, inclusion, and seamless coordination at an unprecedented scale.
Nashik Divisional Commissioner and NTKMA Head Dr Pravin Gedam said, “Simhastha is among the largest peaceful gatherings in the world, and managing it requires foresight, coordination, and sensitivity. The Agentic Kumbh framework allows us to plan better using anonymised demand signals, while fully protecting individual privacy and consent. It will enhance inter-departmental coordination and improve service delivery on the ground, creating a new benchmark for governance at this scale. At the same time, the platform is designed to remain open, transparent, and equitable, it does not provide any preferential or unfair advantage to any company.”
NTKMA Commissioner Shekhar Singh stated, “The Agentic Kumbh framework shifts governance from reactive management to anticipatory coordination. Through Kumbh Doot, every pilgrim, regardless of language, literacy, or device access, will receive personalised assistance while retaining full control over their data.”
Key Features of the ‘KumbhDoot – Agentic Kumbh’ Framework
• One personal AI agent per registered pilgrim (“Kumbh Doot”) • Voice-first interface operable in 20 Indian languages • Accessible via smartphone, feature phone (IVR), and kiosks • Optional, consent-driven Kumbh Pass stored in DigiLocker • No centralised citizen database; privacy-by-design architecture • Integration with India Stack (UPI, ONDC, ABDM, Account Aggregators, DigiLocker; Aadhaar optional) • Agent-to-agent coordination between pilgrims, civic departments, transport, health services, police, and vendors • Voice-enabled UPI payments and transparent digital donations • Real-time multilingual translation and navigation assistance • Geofenced sector-level safety alerts without continuous tracking • Civic dashboards powered by anonymised aggregate demand signals • Sovereign cloud hosting with India data residency and high availability design • 10,000-user pilot in Nashik colleges prior to Simhastha 2027 rollout
