NEW DELHI – Global tech leaders and heads of state converged in New Delhi on Monday for the India AI Impact Summit, as India seeks to solidify its position as a major hub for artificial intelligence development and deployment. The summit, the first of its kind to be held in the developing world, comes as India aims to attract further investment in the sector, with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon collectively pledging $68 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure investment through 2030.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, framed the summit’s theme as “welfare for all, happiness for all,” emphasizing a commitment to harnessing AI for “human-centric progress.” Modi is scheduled to appear on stage Thursday alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, who is visiting India as part of a broader bilateral trip.
Key speakers at the summit include Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Their participation underscores the growing global interest in India’s AI potential.
India’s strategy, as outlined in its Economic Survey released last month, prioritizes “application-led innovation” over the development of foundational AI models, a path reflecting the nation’s unique strengths. This approach is supported by substantial domestic adoption, with India becoming OpenAI’s largest user market, boasting over 72 million daily ChatGPT users by late 2025.
However, the rapid integration of AI is also raising concerns about potential job displacement within India’s $283 billion IT sector. Investment bank Jefferies has predicted that call centers could face a 50% revenue reduction by 2030 due to AI adoption.
The India AI Impact Summit follows similar global AI summits held in Bletchley Park (UK) in 2023, Seoul in 2024, and Paris in 2025. Those previous events focused on safety commitments, voluntary pledges, and governance declarations, though critics have noted a lack of enforceable outcomes.
Organizers anticipate over 250,000 visitors and more than 300 exhibitors at the summit, which is being held at Bharat Mandapam, a newly constructed $300 million convention complex. The influx of international delegates has reportedly driven up prices for luxury hotels in Delhi, with some suites experiencing a tenfold increase in nightly rates.
In anticipation of traffic congestion related to the summit, the Supreme Court of India issued a circular on Saturday allowing advocates to appear via video conferencing during the event week.
Microsoft announced in December 2025 a $17.5 billion investment in India’s cloud and AI infrastructure over four years, building on a prior $3 billion investment. The company is collaborating with the Ministry of Labour & Employment to integrate AI into the National Career Service (NCS) and eShram platforms, benefiting over 310 million informal workers. Microsoft plans to establish the largest hyperscale presence in India with a new datacenter scheduled to go live in mid-2026.
