India AI Impact Summit 2026 Complete Details

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 is a major global conference hosted in New Delhi, marking the first time a large-scale AI summit of this magnitude has been held in the Global South. The central theme of the summit is “Welfare for All, Happiness of All” . Its primary goal is to move beyond global discussions and focus on translating AI into actionable, measurable development outcomes under India’s IndiaAI Mission and Digital India initiative .

📅 Key Details at a Glance

• Dates: February 16 – 20, 2026 
• Venue: Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi 
• Scale: Over 1.5 lakh (150,000) registrations, including 10,000 foreign delegates from more than 30 countries .
• Global Participation: Over 20 Heads of State, 60 Ministers, and 500 global AI leaders, including top CEOs like Sundar Pichai (Google) and Sam Altman (OpenAI) .

Foundational Framework: The Three Sutras and Seven Chakras

The summit’s vision is built on a unique framework inspired by Indian philosophy, designed to ensure AI is used for collective benefit .

The three guiding principles, or ‘Sutras’, are:

• People: Empowering citizens through AI in areas like healthcare, education, and financial inclusion .
• Planet: Promoting sustainable AI practices, including green data centres .
• Progress: Positioning AI as critical infrastructure for national economic growth and governance .

These Sutras are supported by Seven ‘Chakras’, or key areas of cooperation. These include building human capital, ensuring safe and trusted AI, democratizing AI resources, and using AI for economic growth and social good .

Major Announcements and Outcomes

The summit served as a launchpad for several significant developments:

• Sovereign AI Models: India showcased its push for self-reliance with the launch of three new homegrown AI models. For example, startup Sarvam AI introduced large language models (LLMs) supporting all 22 scheduled Indian languages, and BharatGen unveiled its ‘Param2’ multilingual model for governance and public services .
• Massive Investments: The summit attracted significant financial commitments, with over $200 billion in AI investment pledges announced . This includes a massive $110 billion plan from Reliance Industries .
• Global Collaboration: The “New Delhi Frontier AI Commitments” were launched, where global AI leaders pledged to pursue responsible and inclusive AI development .
• Infrastructure Focus: Companies like Asus showcased next-generation AI infrastructure, including powerful servers and supercomputing platforms, to support the goals of the IndiaAI Mission . Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai also announced new subsea fibre optic cables between the U.S. and India to boost connectivity and compute infrastructure .

Prominent Speakers and Attendees

Attendees included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, and Mistral AI Co-Founder Arthur Mensch, alongside 40+ CEOs. Heads of state, ministers from 30+ countries, startups, academia, NGOs, and investors participated, fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Why India Needs This Summit

India, with its vast talent pool and data resources, faces AI adoption gaps in underserved sectors like agriculture and healthcare, where 70% of the population resides in rural areas. The summit addresses the Global South’s underrepresentation in AI governance, countering concentration in a few nations and pushing for equitable access amid rapid AI growth projected to add $500B to India’s GDP by 2025. It aligns with IndiaAI Mission pillars like compute infrastructure (10,000 GPUs) and datasets (AIKosh), positioning India as a leader in ethical AI

Benefits for India

Hosting the summit boosts India’s global AI stature, attracting investments and partnerships worth billions, as seen in prior events. It accelerates domestic innovation via expos and challenges, enhancing applications in priority areas like climate resilience and inclusion. Outcomes include policy frameworks, skill-building for 1M+ youth, and economic multipliers through startups and jobs in a $17T global AI market.

India’s Core Message: ‘Create in India’

A key takeaway from the summit is India’s ambition to be a co-architect of global AI, not just a consumer . The message, encapsulated in the ‘Create in India‘ mission, is that while Silicon Valley may lead in building foundational AI models, India intends to lead in building applications and rules for the rest of the world . This involves developing AI for India’s diverse linguistic and socio-economic contexts, with a strong emphasis on a techno-legal framework that protects citizens and fosters innovation .

In summary, the India AI Impact Summit 2026 is a powerful statement of intent, positioning India at the forefront of global AI development with a focus on inclusive, ethical, and people-centric technology .