India AI Impact Summit: ‘Impact Over Hype’ At The Centre Of India’s AI Strategy

The opening day of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi unfolded as a landmark moment in the global conversation around AI, with India hosting the world’s biggest AI gathering to date, bringing together leaders from various governments around the world, the biggest AI companies as well as representatives from civil society. 

Spread over five days from February 16 to 20 in New Delhi, the summit has drawn registrations from over 2.5 Lakh participants. The agenda features more than 500 sessions and upwards of 3,250 speakers and panellists. The AI Impact Expo, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is said to have over 300 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and showcases upwards of 500 startups. 

Notably, the event is one of the first major global AI forums hosted by a Global South nation, and it drew attention by gathering top executives from major technology companies alongside policymakers and international delegations.

“AI today is transforming several sectors, including healthcare, education, agriculture, governance and enterprise. The AI Impact Summit will enrich global discourse on diverse aspects of AI, such as innovation, collaboration, responsible use and more. I am confident that the outcomes of the Summit will help shape a future that is progressive, innovative and opportunity-driven,” PM Modi posted on X earlier in the day. 

Upon arriving at the venue towards the evening, the Prime Minister launched the expo before touring multiple exhibition zones, where companies showcased live demonstrations of their latest AI products, platforms and research breakthroughs. 

Select industry leaders and startup founders briefed him on new AI applications across sectors, as the inauguration set the tone for the summit’s focus on innovation, deployment and real-world impact.

AI Signals Come To The Fore

A key focus of the opening day was on how India can make the most of the AI opportunity — from infrastructure to applications to the question of trust in AI systems. 

“From Paris to India, the focus has shifted from action to measurable impact. The India Impact Summit reflects our commitment to democratise technology, bridge the digital divide, and position India’s young talent as the driving force shaping the next chapter of the global tech ecosystem,” said Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and Electronics and Information Technology. 

Prasada said that India will not over-regulate innovation, but will ensure access. As per him, by expanding GPU availability and supporting startups, the government wants its best minds to build scalable models that solve India-specific challenges rather than chase global hype.

Adding to this, member of parliament Raghav Chadha said that India’s AI strategy is rooted in impact rather than scale for its own sake. 

“We are not looking at competing with the big global models. We are looking at scalable models that have impact within our country, models that can make a difference in a particular sector, region, community or field. That’s where the India focus lies,” he said.

Chadha further underlined that democratising AI must go beyond surface-level access. Per him,  the country has to go deeper and beyond access and ensure scalable solutions in every aspect. 

“With our young population, strong skill force and talent capital, India is rightly positioned to chart the course and bridge the digital divide,” he added.

The Shift From AI Users To AI Creators

Adding to the chorus of voices at the summit, Ankush Sabharwal, founder and CEO of CoRover AI, said the overwhelming participation on Day 1 signalled that India is ready to transition from being a large consumer of AI to becoming a creator nation. 

“I think this day should be considered the moment for India to not just remain AI users but become AI creators. Enough of usage. We don’t have to convince anyone to use AI anymore. Now all of us should take a step towards creating something with AI,” Sabharwal said.

He stressed the importance of builders learning from one another rather than competing blindly. “Let’s keep learning from each other and take one step to really be the builder and problem solver, for your family, for your society, and eventually for India and the world,” he said.

On the debate between small language models and large language models, he added that the choice ultimately depends on an entrepreneur’s purpose. 

According to him, there is nothing right or wrong in choosing what to build. He said that they went ahead with SLMs because they wanted to work with organisations that already understand their problems and have domain knowledge. 

“That’s how we can help society faster,” he noted, adding that India will eventually have its own breakthrough AI moment if innovators continue to think differently and leverage distributed compute and new approaches.

Meanwhile, Pratyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam AI, said India cannot aspire to lead in AI by building primarily for English-speaking benchmarks. He argued that AI systems must reflect India’s multilingual, multicultural and deeply contextual realities, noting that models designed for Western contexts may not adequately serve rural and diverse Indian populations. 

Pertinent to note that Sarvam’s recently launched LLM model has outperformed major global companies like Google and OpenAI in specific, targeted benchmarks, particularly regarding Indian languages and document understanding.

Edited by Nikhil Subramaniam

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