The India–AI Impact Summit 2026 represents an important moment in global artificial intelligence discourse. The first major AI summit will be hosted in the Global South which is Scheduled from February 16–20, 2026, at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, India.
This global AI event was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, which shift the international conversation from high-level principles and safety discussions to tangible, measurable impact.
Core high-level proceedings, including the opening ceremony, leaders’ plenary, and CEO roundtables, will concentrate on February 19–20, with the preceding days featuring expos, challenges, research sessions, and preparatory activities.
The event will be organized under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and anchored in the IndiaAI Mission, the summit builds on prior global forums such as the 2023 UK AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, the 2024 AI Seoul Summit, the 2025 France AI Action Summit in Paris, and initiatives like the Global AI Summit on Africa.
It positions India as a convener for inclusive, development-oriented AI, emphasizing the needs of emerging economies while advancing multilateral cooperation for equitable access and responsible deployment.
Core Vision: People, Planet, and Progress
At its heart, the summit champions AI as a force for “People, Planet, and Progress”. For People, AI empowers citizens through enhanced access to essential services. In healthcare, AI-powered telemedicine, remote diagnostics via portable tools, medical image analysis for conditions like tuberculosis and cancer, predictive analytics for disease outbreaks, and chatbots for symptom checking bridge gaps in rural and underserved regions, reducing travel burdens and accelerating treatment.
In agriculture and the rural economy, critical for India’s vast farming population, AI enables precision practices. Tools forecast weather, pest outbreaks, and irrigation needs; drones monitor crop health; satellite data supports harvest predictions; and mobile advisories in regional languages boost productivity and incomes.
Initiatives like Mossum GPT and Kisan E-Mitra deliver localized, real-time information to farmers.
Education becomes more inclusive and personalized via adaptive learning platforms that tailor content to individual paces, AI-driven translation overcoming linguistic barriers, and 24/7 tutoring systems providing instant feedback.
Platforms such as DIKSHA exemplify this by making quality educational resources accessible across diverse groups.In finance and commerce, AI bolsters inclusion and security: real-time fraud detection safeguards digital transactions, alternative credit scoring opens loans to the unbanked, and banking chatbots offer round-the-clock support for routine queries.
For governance and public services, AI enhances efficiency and transparency. Vernacular translation of court judgments improves access to justice, smart city systems optimize traffic, waste, and safety, and streamlined processing accelerates scheme deliveries and case management in the judiciary.
For the Planet, AI promotes sustainability: precision farming minimizes resource waste, drone-based monitoring reduces environmental impact in agriculture, and predictive models support climate-resilient practices.Progress ties these together, driving economic growth through inclusive technology that reaches rural and urban India alike, fostering everyday efficiencies in mobility, food delivery, and personalized services.
Foundational Framework: Three Sutras and Seven Chakras
The summit’s approach is structured around three foundational Sutras—Sanskrit for guiding threads of wisdom and action—defining AI’s role through multilateral cooperation for collective benefit.These Sutras inform seven Chakras (key cooperation areas) that channel efforts toward inclusive, sustainable outcomes:
Human Capital: Building equitable reskilling ecosystems to prepare workforces for the AI economy, aligning with India’s development priorities.
Inclusion for Social Empowerment: Enabling broad participation via shared, scalable AI solutions that strengthen last-mile citizen services.
Safe and Trusted AI: Converting global responsible AI principles into practical, interoperable governance frameworks to foster domestic trust and innovation.
Resilience, Innovation, and Efficiency: Tackling environmental challenges from large-scale AI systems, ensuring sustainable and equitable adoption to avoid widening global divides.
Science: Accelerating discovery while addressing inequities in data, compute, and research access—positioning India as a contributor to global advancements in health, agriculture, and climate.
Democratizing AI Resources: Creating an equitable global ecosystem for foundational enablers like compute and models, expanding opportunities for startups, researchers, and institutions.
AI for Economic Growth & Social Good: Harnessing high-impact use cases that exemplify inclusive growth and societal benefits.
Together, these provide a roadmap for nations, organizations, and stakeholders to align strategies, share learnings, and deploy AI that maximizes benefits while mitigating risks.
Flagship Components and Events
The summit spans five days of impact, featuring:India AI Impact Expo 2026: A massive showcase over 70,000 square meters with 300+ exhibitors from India and 30+ countries across 10+ thematic pavilions. It demonstrates AI’s transition from research to large-scale deployment, connecting innovators, investors, and solutions for sectoral challenges.
Global Impact Challenges:AI for ALL: Partners with Startup India and Digital India Bhashini to identify scalable, deployable AI solutions (e.g., urban infrastructure, mobility). Top entries showcase at the summit with awards up to INR 2.50 crore.
AI by HER: In collaboration with NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform, promotes women-led AI innovations addressing public challenges, with similar awards and showcases.
YUVAi: Targets youth (13–21) via MyBharat and NIELIT, encouraging innovative solutions for real-world problems, with prizes up to INR 85 lakh.
Research Symposium (February 18): Partnered with IIIT Hyderabad, featuring plenary sessions, international presentations, and Global South showcases/posters to exchange frontier research and foster collaboration.
AI Compendium: Released February 17, a key knowledge output with thematic casebooks on real-world AI applications in priority sectors, serving as a lasting reference for practitioners.
Pre-summit momentum includes regional AI conferences across states (e.g., Meghalaya, Gujarat, Odisha) to identify localized use cases, plus over 300 preparatory events (57 held across 25+ countries) and working group deliberations.The agenda builds from the India Innovation Festival, through policy panels, knowledge launches, and industry sessions, culminating in leader-level engagements and Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) Council meetings.
Prime Minister Modi is expected to inaugurate the expo and opening ceremony, host key events, and participate in plenaries.
Institutional Backbone and Expected Outcomes
Supported by MeitY, the IndiaAI Mission (driving compute infrastructure, datasets, indigenous models, skilling, and startups), Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) (incubating innovators), and the Digital India Initiative (foundational for digital public infrastructure), the summit ensures alignment with national priorities like Viksit Bharat@2047.
Over 700 proposals reflect strong global interest. Expected outcomes include strengthened ethical and regulatory frameworks, expanded equitable AI access, accelerated skill development, indigenous innovation, and sustained partnerships across government, academia, startups, and industry.
By democratizing AI resources, bridging divides, and prioritizing Global South perspectives, the India–AI Impact Summit 2026 aims to catalyze responsible, people-centric AI that drives inclusive growth, sustainable development, and shared prosperity worldwide.
As India steps forward as a global AI hub, this event underscores technology’s potential to serve humanity equitably—marking not just a gathering, but a turning point toward demonstrable, lasting impact.
Signpost News is an Imphal-based media house that focuses on delivering news and views from Northeast India and beyond.