Froncort.AI, a Pune-based healthcare AI startup, has received a $2.3 million grant from Google.org, along with $200,000 in Google Cloud credits and pro bono technical support, to build mAI-NETRA, an offline-first mobile app that tells frontline health workers where to screen for tuberculosis (TB). The grant was announced on 10 November 2026.

The app will be deployed in up to eight high-burden districts across three Indian states, covering two to three million people. It extends the AI-for-public-services work India is already pursuing, from health research to frameworks such as the IndiaAI and ICMR partnership on ethical AI for healthcare.

What Froncort.AI’s mAI-NETRA app does

mAI-NETRA is the mobile edition of AI-NETRA, Froncort.AI’s geospatial AI platform for active case finding. It combines government health programme data with Google’s Earth AI models and local signals such as settlement density, land use, rainfall and flooding. From these, it marks high-risk areas as small as 300 metres and turns them into ranked work-paths with household clusters and routes that health workers can follow in the field.

• The app works offline and in local languages, on health workers’ own phones.
• Google’s models supply satellite and environmental insights, while all government health programme data stays stored and processed in India.
• TB is the first target; Froncort.AI has said leprosy, malaria and dengue are next.
• The app will be released as an open-source blueprint so other governments can adopt it without depending on a single vendor.

How the Google.org grant will be measured

Froncort.AI is one of 15 recipients of the $30 million Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation, picked from more than 2,600 proposals worldwide. Google.org had earlier supported the AI-NETRA validation study in 2025.

The rollout will be independently monitored against five targets: at least 20% more TB cases found, more than 50% fewer people screened per case, faster sample transport, a lower government cost per case detected and higher performance-based earnings for frontline workers.

Early results from Pune

AI-NETRA was built with FIND and the State TB Cell, Maharashtra, and ASHA workers in Pune began using AI-generated screening plans in the field in May 2026. Pune pilot data, cited in a request for applications to scale AI-NETRA under the National TB Elimination Programme, shows the share of confirmed cases among presumptive TB patients rose from 1.2% to 4.3% under AI-guided targeting, and 92% of frontline workers reported a lighter workload.

That matters because blanket campaigns are expensive. In dense urban TB units, standard screening rounds have needed close to 20,000 people screened to confirm a single pulmonary TB case.

Why it matters for AI in public services

The project shows a pattern Indian technology leaders are watching closely: AI that sits on top of existing government data, keeps that data in the country and runs on low-cost devices at the last mile. It mirrors other operational deployments such as the Indian Railways AI war room for festive crowd management.

Data control remains the central question for health AI, and MeitY’s DEPA framework for training AI on sensitive data addresses it directly. The government’s reported push for indigenous AI models in critical sectors points the same way. Google’s growing India footprint, including the recent Dreambeans AI story app in 13 languages, adds a large platform partner to that mix.

Key takeaways

• Google.org has granted Froncort.AI $2.3 million plus $200,000 in cloud credits to build the mAI-NETRA TB screening app.
• The app will reach two to three million people in up to eight districts across three states.
• Success will be judged on five independent targets, including 20% more cases found.

FAQ

What is mAI-NETRA?

It is an offline-first, local-language mobile app from Froncort.AI that uses AI and geospatial data to guide health workers to areas at high risk of undiagnosed TB.

Who funds the project?

Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, through its Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation, as listed in the Google.org recipients announcement. Project details are on Froncort.AI’s website.

Featured image: ASHA workers at an AI-NETRA training session in Pune. Photo: Froncort.AI

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