The India AI Impact Summit 2026 officially commenced today, February 16, at New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam, signaling the nation’s emergence as a primary architect of the global artificial intelligence landscape. In a grand opening ceremony at 5:00 PM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed world leaders and tech icons, emphasizing that India’s 1.4 billion people are at the forefront of a transformation driven by “ambition and responsibility.” The five-day landmark event—the first major global AI summit hosted in the Global South—features an expansive 70,000-square-metre expo structured around three “Sutras”: People, Planet, and Progress. PM Modi highlighted that India is no longer just a consumer of technology but a global provider, leveraging its world-class digital public infrastructure to address challenges in healthcare, agriculture, and education. He specifically invited the world to “reside their data in India,” noting that the expansion of domestic data centers would be a massive engine for job creation for the nation’s youth.
The summit has drawn an unprecedented assembly of over 100 countries and 20 heads of state, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, alongside tech titans like Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang. A major highlight of the opening day was the showcase of 12 indigenous foundation AI models, developed under the ₹10,372 crore IndiaAI Mission. These models, trained on Indian datasets and supporting all 22 official languages, aim to bridge the “AI divide” between the Global North and South. The Prime Minister also oversaw the launch of flagship competitions like “AI by HER” and “YUVAi,” offering prizes up to ₹2.50 crore to empower women and youth-led innovation. As the event unfolds across 500 sessions featuring 3,250 speakers, it sets a bold new roadmap for global AI governance that prioritizes a human-centric approach, ensuring that technological progress translates into inclusive growth and “happiness for all.”
