Tuesday 17 / February / 2026
New Delhi: The world has entered a new era of technology, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming lives and shaping global economic progress. This is true for India's economic growth as well, where AI adoption is rapidly transforming the economy, projected to add more than $500 billion to GDP by 2035.
Amid the rapid pace of technological transformation, the Indian government has also evolved from a provider of physical infrastructure to a facilitator of the real-time availability of virtual infrastructure. As the evolution of virtual infrastructure is majorly characterized by the expansion of the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), India has actively been involved in weaving AI into its development and governance narrative.
Taking cognizance of the fact that AI is no longer limited to research labs or big corporations but reaching citizens at every level, whether in healthcare, farming, classrooms, or public service delivery, the government of India has taken initiatives like India AI Mission and the Centers of Excellence for AI over the last few years. And further strengthening the narrative of AI in the governance, academic, commercial, and social landscape, India is organizing the India–AI Impact Summit 2026. The Summit, earmarked as the first-ever global AI Summit to be hosted in the Global South, will be anchored on 3 foundational pillars, or 'Sutras': People, Planet, and Progress.
The narrative of the Summit indicates the goal and vision of the Indian Government in assessing the AI impact and its expansion on mankind. The keywords of the Summit: Sustainable AI Future? Global Cooperation? AI for ALL? Multilateral Actions, among others, are telling of the government's commitment to national as well as the global development journey through AI, strengthening governance, and improving public service delivery.
The Summit has emerged as the mecca for technology leaders, where global tech CEOs and stalwarts in AI and Industrialists are paying a visit to Delhi's Bharat Mandapam. The list of people attending the Summit is impressive, marked by the presence of the CEOs of almost all major tech companies and industrialists. This includes CEOs of Google, OpenAI, Adobe, Accenture, Qualcomm, Palo Alto Networks, Creative Commons, among others. Besides, Bill Gates, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Mukesh Ambani, Nandan Nilekani, Salil Parekh, along with a list of many prominent industry leaders, are expected at the event. The presence of the leaders not just from the tech side, but also from business, economics, and politics, is reflective of the fact that India's role is expansive: from R&D to regulation, and equitable access and adoption 2 , setting a narrative on global AI governance.
The Summit is envisioned as a crucial platform for the Global South as well, for dialogue, innovation, and policy exchange on artificial intelligence. Besides, it highlights how India is transforming from a data and talent-rich nation into an AI-empowered powerhouse, with technologies acting as a tool for inclusive growth and sustainable development 3 . The Summit accentuates India's key role in the democratization of AI , which involves making artificial intelligence accessible, affordable and usable for a wide and diverse set of users locally as well as globally. The Summit provides an opportunity for coordinated global cooperation. This is being operationalized through a Summit's working group chaired by India, Egypt, and Kenya. Thus, for the Global South, India provides not just its leadership, but also its agenda for advancing a more inclusive and balanced global AI ecosystem through shared access, collaboration, and capacity building.
The timing of the Summit also needs to be studied in the background of the foreign policy feats recently achieved by India. India commands a positive global economic perception as a rapidly growing economic powerhouse (projected to contribute nearly 20% of global growth by 2028 4 ), a key geopolitical player, and a stable, democratic alternative for supply chain diversification, and a multi-aligned partner, apart from being globally recognized for its digital infrastructure and role in supply-chain diversification. Besides, recent India-EU FTA's focus on AI, particularly collaboration in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and high-tech manufacturing, and institutional linkage of the European AI Office with India's National AI Mission to jointly advance AI, leveraging India's multilingual datasets and Europe's research infrastructure. Thus, the Summit highlights India's established as well as expanding AI prowess, and its commitment towards global cooperation. The globality of the Summit can be gauged from the fact that for the development-oriented deployment of AI, 700+ proposals were received globally 5 .
The 3 Ps of People, Planet, and Progress: These sutras are reflective of not just the government's political disposition, but also embody the larger Indian ideological and philosophical ethos. The Summit, by setting its tone on these sutras, has anchored the dialogue between businesses, academia, and policymakers, as well as the larger AI discourse on its impact on humanity, environment, and equity. In essence, the People Sutra stands for inclusivity; Planet Sutra for sustainability, and the Progress Sutra for equitable distribution. These sutras are not just guiding principles but are also highly actionable, adaptive, and operationalizable.
Through the Summit, India emerges not just as a mere consumer and producer of AI, but also as a nodal body for guiding AI's evolution, its impact assessment, and regulation at the global stage. Thus, through the India–AI Impact Summit 2026, advancements in AI are established as the strategic enabler for India's development priorities. The Summit provides convergence of learnings from national and regional engagements to recognize the best practices for application and adoption of AI in spheres of governance, public service delivery, research, and industry.
