New Delhi will host one of the world's most consequential technology gatherings as India rolls out the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 from February 16 to 20, positioning itself as a key global voice shaping the future of artificial intelligence through the lens of development, inclusion and public good.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the summit is anchored in three core "Sutras" - People, Planet and Progress, which together define India's cooperative approach to AI.
The five-day event will be spread across major venues in the national capital, led by Bharat Mandapam and Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, along with several other locations across the national capital.
Senior officials say the scale of the summit is unprecedented. Over two lakh participants have already registered, cutting across governments, industry, academia and civil society. Notably, the registrations also include a large number of farmers and grassroots participants, reflecting India's intent to connect AI discourse with real-world developmental needs.
The programme is structured in phases.
From February 16 to 18, the summit will host side events, sectoral showcases, solution platforms, farming stations and fireside chats, focusing on execution models and applied AI use cases.
The leaders' segment begins from the afternoon of February 18 and continues through February 19, featuring a formal inaugural session, high-level addresses and closed-door deliberations.
February 20 will see thematic panels and policy discussions, with strong participation from European leaders and institutions.
At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leaders from 20 countries are scheduled to attend. These include major global and regional voices such as Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, Emmanuel Macron, Pedro Sanchez, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Dick Schoof, alongside leaders from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, the UAE, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
In addition, ministerial delegations from over 45 countries, the UN Secretary General, and senior officials from several international organisations will participate.
India's summit follows earlier global AI meetings hosted by the UK, South Korea and France, which largely focused on safety, security and institutional governance. New Delhi is deliberately shifting that emphasis. While safety and trust remain part of the agenda, India is foregrounding AI as a tool for development, particularly for emerging and developing economies.
To institutionalise this approach, India has structured the summit around seven thematic "chakras", ranging from democratizing AI resources and economic growth to science, social empowerment, human capital and resilient innovation.
More than 100 countries were invited to participate in these working groups, many of which have been meeting since September last year in physical and hybrid formats. Their recommendations will feed directly into the leaders' discussions.
Officials point to India's own digital public infrastructure - from real-time payments to large-scale digital governance platforms - as proof that technology, when deployed inclusively, can transform service delivery and empower citizens.
The summit will also directly address global anxieties around automation and job losses, with dedicated discussions on skilling, reskilling and workforce transitions.
As New Delhi prepares to host this massive diplomatic and technological convergence, the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 marks a clear statement of intent: India is not just participating in the global AI conversation - it is reshaping it by putting people, sustainability and progress at its core.
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