NEW DELHI, 22 July 2026: India has significantly enhanced its weather forecasting capabilities with the launch of the Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS), becoming the first country to operate a real-time global weather prediction model at a 6-km horizontal resolution, the government informed Parliament.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Earth Sciences Dr. Jitendra Singh said BharatFS is built on the advanced Triangular Cubic Octahedral (TCo) dynamical grid, enabling forecasts at 6-km resolution, compared with the previous Global Forecast System's 12-km resolution and the 9–14 km resolution used by most operational global weather models.
The system is powered by India's newly commissioned supercomputers Arka at IITM Pune and Arunika at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida, which enable faster real-time weather predictions.
Developed by Indian scientists from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, with support from NCMRWF and the India Meteorological Department (IMD), BharatFS has been designed specifically to address India's complex geography, including the Himalayas and Western Ghats.
The high-resolution forecasts are expected to benefit clusters of panchayats and villages, providing more accurate weather information for crop planning, irrigation scheduling and harvesting decisions. The system will also help water resource managers optimise reservoir operations during the monsoon, reducing flood risks while improving agricultural resilience.
The government said BharatFS has demonstrated improved accuracy in forecasting extreme rainfall events over India's core monsoon region, strengthening disaster preparedness and enabling faster, more targeted emergency responses amid increasing climate-related weather extremes.
Developed entirely with indigenous expertise and computing infrastructure, BharatFS supports the "Make in India" initiative while strengthening India's meteorological services and enhancing its ability to provide weather forecasting support to neighbouring countries.
