Natural Language Processing (IIT Bombay)

About this course

This NPTEL course from IIT Bombay teaches you Natural Language Processing (NLP) from first principles, covering everything from tokenization and parsing to machine translation and sentiment analysis. Led by Prof. Pushpak Bhattacharyya, a pioneer in Indian language AI, the course gives special attention to processing Indian languages—a critical skill as AI companies increasingly build for Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and other regional markets.

What you'll learn

• Core NLP concepts: tokenization, morphological analysis, part-of-speech tagging, and parsing techniques
• How to build language models and understand statistical and rule-based approaches to language processing
• Machine translation fundamentals and practical approaches to translating between languages
• Sentiment analysis and opinion mining for understanding emotions in text
• Hands-on methods for processing Indian languages and low-resource language challenges
• Information extraction and named entity recognition for real-world applications
• Practical NLP pipelines and how to apply these concepts to problems like chatbots and search

Who this is for

You're a good fit for this course if you want to understand how machines process human language, and you're ready to learn the math and code behind modern AI systems. This is intermediate-level work—you'll need some programming and math background, but you don't need prior NLP experience.

• Engineering students—build portfolio projects in NLP and gain a competitive edge for AI roles at major tech companies and startups.
• Career-switchers entering AI—NLP is a high-demand specialization; this course gives you credible, hands-on knowledge to market yourself for junior NLP engineer roles.

Prerequisites

You should be comfortable with basic programming (Python preferred), linear algebra, and probability. Familiarity with machine learning fundamentals is helpful but not required.

Why this matters for Indian learners

NLP expertise is increasingly valuable in India's tech job market. Companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Indian startups (Xiaomi, Flipkart, Dream11) are actively hiring NLP engineers to build language models, chatbots, and voice assistants for Indian languages. Salaries for NLP engineers in India typically range from ₹6–15 lakhs annually for entry-level roles, with senior positions commanding ₹20+ lakhs. This course, taught by a leading researcher in Indian language processing, positions you to fill this gap and contribute to making AI work better for Indian users.

Frequently asked questions

Is this course really free?

Yes. NPTEL courses are completely free to access and complete. You can earn a certificate for a small optional fee if you choose to take the exam.

How long will it take to complete?

The course is designed as 40 hours of content. If you dedicate 4–5 hours per week, you can complete it in 8–10 weeks. Many learners move faster once they get into the material.

Will I get a certificate?

Yes. If you complete the course and pass the proctored exam, NPTEL will issue you a certificate of completion. The exam is optional but recommended to validate your learning.