Setting the Agenda for Global AI Governance: India to Host AI Impact Summit in February 2026

The global dialogue on the future of AI development and deployment will crash onto India’s shores in early 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will convene the India - AI Impact Summit on 19 – 20 February 2026, the latest in a series of global AI summits that have been held in the U.K., France, Korea, and, Rwanda. India’s pageantry will take on a slightly new flavor, however, as it looks to shift the AI conversation from the AI “Safety” and “Action” themes of the earlier summits to one focused on “Impact.” This represents a strategic evolution from previous convenings to move beyond governance and safety-focused dialogues, to one that drives implementation and measurable outcomes, particularly for deployment across the Global South, and strong multi-sectoral collaboration.

Objectives & Structure

India will utilize the high-level platform of the Summit to highlight AI’s tangible, transformational impact on sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education, and energy/climate, with an emphasis on accessibility and ethical innovation. The Summit also aligns with Prime Minister Modi’s vision leveraging technology in an inclusive manner to empower all sections of society. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)’s IndiaAI Mission, which is at the core of the nation’s AI strategy, will host the gathering. MeitY has stated seven key objectives for the Summit:

1. Democratize access to AI resources
2. Enable inclusive development of AI applications and models
3. Harness AI for a resilient and sustainable planet
4. Make AI systems secure, transparent, human-centric, fair, and trusted
5. Enable development of local, contextual, multilingual, and culturally grounded AI
6. Empower the voices of the Global South
7. Bridge the Global AI Divide and ensure its benefits accrue for all

The Summit is expected to convene a broad swath of AI stakeholders, ranging from global leaders and industry experts, to researchers, startups, civil society organizations, and multilateral organizations. Its programming will feature a number of activities including high-level plenaries, global hackathons, innovation challenges, and an AI Expo. Multi-stakeholder working groups will be created with participation from multiple countries to develop recommendations and action plans, culminating in the Leaders’ Declaration, a key output of the Summit. All of these efforts will be organized around specified thematic areas. Proposed themes include Democratization of AI; AI for Social Impact; Safe & Trustworthy AI; and AI for the Global South, with other themes expected to be developed and announced in the coming months. Each theme will have a dedicated working group, side events, affiliated/independent deliverables, and demonstrations. Side events may be organized during and in the lead-up to the Summit.

Timeline & Stakeholder Engagement

The IndiaAI Mission is leading several initiatives to prepare for the Summit. These efforts began with a call for public comment, under which five virtual stakeholder consultations were held in June 2025 to inform the discourse and outcomes of the Summit. These consultations drew participation from over 300 stakeholders who gave input on the themes, agenda, and engagement formats for the Summit. Stakeholders proposed structured avenues for engagement with the Summit, including through technical inputs, research partnerships, mentoring networks, AI expos, investor interactions, and participation in hackathons and outreach efforts.

Upcoming Milestones

• Working Groups: Multinational, multi-stakeholder working groups will be established for the co-creation of deliverables and Summit outcomes. A call for proposals is expected to be issued soon.
• Side Events: The government has an open global call for relevant partnerships for hosting strategic side events aligned with the themes and objectives of the Summit.
• Registrations: Official registrations for the Summit will be opened soon.  

Recent Developments

In late July, India’s Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, made the formal announcement of the AI Impact Summit in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament. He also highlighted recent initiatives by the IndiaAI Mission expected to inform themes and priorities for engagement at the upcoming Summit. They include:

• Building Indigenous AI for India’s Needs: India has big ambitions for and is currently supporting the development of AI models tailored to local dialects and adept in recognizing cultural context. Four domestic startups—Sarvam AI, Soket AI, Gnani AI, and Gan AI—are currently building foundational AI models with ambitions to make them open source for fostering innovation.
• Enhancing Accessibility of Compute Capacity: The IndiaAI Mission is providing 34,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) to startups and researchers at a government subsidized rate that is one-third the global average. These are currently available through the IndiaAI Compute Portal in cities such as Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Chennai.
• Creating AIKosh, India’s AI Dataset Platform: Over 1,000 datasets and 208 models are now publicly available, spanning a wide range of areas including clinical diagnostics, agricultural monitoring, and linguistic tools. These will enable developers to build AI applications with access to domain-specific data while ensuring data privacy and security.
• Solving Real World Problems through Targeted AI Application Development: Around 30 applications have been funded in verticals such as healthcare (AI for disease detection) and agriculture (soil testing and advisory).
• Expanding Global Partnerships and Market Access: The IndiaAI Startups Global Program has been launched, in partnership with Station F & HEC Paris, to support 10 Indian AI startups as they work to scale in Europe.

Call to Action

The AI Impact Summit will be India’s defining opportunity to shape the direction of the global narrative on AI governance. India has emphasized its ambition of making this a “partnerships and collaboration”- driven endeavor, not only with allied governments but also stakeholders from across the spectrum, including the private sector. For India specifically, outcomes from this Summit are expected to shape how it approaches the development of its domestic AI regulatory landscape. The nation’s leading voices on AI will come together to deliver outcomes on the entire spectrum of AI policy issues, from governance and safety to infrastructure creation and resource management. In a sense, the Summit will be a large-scale policy ideation and knowledge exchange exercise, set to define the overall direction of India’s AI policy development across issues, sectors, and states.

The government of India is keen to work closely with stakeholders to develop policy priorities, convene working groups, and encourage the hosting of relevant side events to amplify working groups’ messaging and outcomes. Private sector leaders in the AI arena – spanning innovative startups to multinational industry leaders; and both developers and deployers – will be welcome to pitch engagement proposals.

With only six months remaining until the Summit, preparations are now kicking into high gear. This is an opportune moment to engage with the IndiaAI mission and to help shape the key outcomes of the Summit through creative and impactful engagement pathways.