AI for all: India AI Impact Summit 2026 signals India as an emerging leader

The first date of the AI Impact Summit 2026 is February 16, 2026 which was organised at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. Additional sessions were held at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan and Ambedkar Bhawan. This selection of specific location Bharat Mandapam was strategically identified. The first day was officially opened by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India at 5:00 PM. This summit was not only a small scale rather it focuses on a huge scale of industry combinations. This event witnessed a total of 600 startups and 13 international country pavilions participation along with Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France. The event widely witnessed the importance of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the fields of healthcare, transport, banking, farming, and more. AI is not only the main point of building rather also found to be ways to control wrongful usage of it. Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Information and Broadcasting pointed out specific issues related to AI such as deepfakes and fake AI videos. He emphasized these recent AI issues, stating that India is taking significant measures to address them. As a result, many individuals' personal images are being tarnished, and numerous reputations are suffering. The above situation showcasing technical skills misuse vs reputation conflict stage. The Indian Government is very serious about this issue and said that they are looking for international rules to combat these AI misuse. The Indian Government introduces Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026 policy during the discussion in order to combat these digital harms. Another important thing that is noticed during the summit is that the National Payments Corporation of India launched the “UPI One World”. UPI One World, is the digital payment system where foreign visitors can easily pay using UPI. Now, the foreign visitors do not need any Indian Bank Account for transferring any amount. UPI shows that India is currently strengthening its digital payment system to the world. Many high profile business partnerships are observed during this event. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) currently partnering in-depth with Advanced Micro Devices. This partnership is strongly focusing on building stronger Indian AI data centers. AI coding tools are used in real works by many Indian companies such as Air India and Cognizant. This situation demonstrates that AI development strategies are not only written in pen and paper; rather, they are being practically used by Indian large Multinational Companies (MNCs). In the year 2024 there was massive use of AI in Indian MNCs. In 2024, Statista observed that India reached 6.3 billion U.S. dollars AI market size. The Indian technology sector saw massive growth using AI and helped in increasing productivity. This evidence pointed out that India’s core economic growth is strongly driven by AI. As of 2026, Statista observed, the Indian AI market is projected to reach 609.92bn INR. Hence, India is witnessing a strong upward and rapidly increasing strength using AI in the upcoming future. India is also looking for strong powerful leadership rather than simply participating. This is witnessed by selecting the location: Bharat Mandapam itself. The event was not considered as a simple technology oriented event rather this was a national strategy moment. A powerful message is observed that AI is not only for serving corporations rather it should also serve the people. This message was spread by using the theme “Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya” and the focus on People, Planet, Progress. Therefore, India AI Impact Summit 2026 was a strategic statement where it showed India wants to build AI for everyone with maintaining strong rules and regulations globally.