PM kicks off India AI summit, visits startup stalls on opening day

New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 16, 2026 21:11 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi, kicking off a week of intense discussions, deal-making and technology showcases around artificial intelligence.

Soon after cutting the ribbon, PM Modi walked through the sprawling exhibition space, stopping frequently at stalls, speaking to founders and asking detailed questions about products and real-world applications. He spent several minutes with a number of startups, seeking to understand how their tools are being deployed on the ground.

The expo, spread across more than 70,000 square metres, brings together over 600 startups along with global technology companies, research institutions, Union ministries, state governments and international partners. There are more than 300 exhibition setups and live demonstrations, organised broadly around themes of people, planet and progress.

Thirteen countries — including Australia, Japan, France, Germany and the United Kingdom — have put up national pavilions, underlining the international interest in partnerships around AI.

PACKED VENUES, LONG QUEUES

The venue wore a busy look from early morning on the first day of summit. Delegates began lining up well before the doors opened, and most sessions through the day ran to full capacity. Attendees said the turnout reflected the buzz around AI, even though many of the headline global speakers are scheduled to arrive later in the week.

"Sessions are packed. There are long queues, and once the halls fill up, doors are closed, which creates some hassle for those still waiting outside," an enthusiastic participant was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. "You have to be there for a session well in advance. One cannot float around from session to session like in other conferences."

Participants moving between halls spoke of standing-room-only panels and corridors turning into networking hubs as people exchanged cards and ideas.

Alongside the conference, major technology firms — from global giants to Indian players — are showcasing their latest work in areas such as generative AI, compute infrastructure and public-sector solutions.

WHAT'S ON AGENDA

While the expo opened on Monday, the summit runs till February 20 and will gather momentum over the next two days.

Tuesday will see the release of an AI compendium documenting case studies across sectors such as health, education, agriculture and energy. Multiple policy roundtables and industry discussions are also scheduled.

On Wednesday, a research symposium is expected to bring academics and scientists together to deliberate on AI safety, governance, access to data and compute, and collaboration across the Global South.

The final stretch of the summit will shift to leader-level engagement. More than 20 heads of state and government are expected later this week, including Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

PM Modi will deliver an address on Thursday, February 19.

Top industry figures such as Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis are slated to speak from mid-week onwards.

India is expected to use the platform to push for wider access to AI technologies, stronger digital public infrastructure and the idea of shared global resources or “AI commons” that countries can learn from.

For now, though, the spotlight remains on the show floor, where young companies are demonstrating how AI is already being used — from healthcare diagnostics and farm advisories to language tools and citizen services.

With crowds swelling and sessions overflowing on day one itself, organisers say the strong response underlines how central AI has become to governments, businesses and everyday life.

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