The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 begins today at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, bringing together world leaders, ministers and global organisations for a landmark gathering on artificial intelligence. The five-day event is the first-ever global AI summit to be hosted in the Global South.
Leaders from 20 countries are scheduled to attend, along with ministerial delegations from more than 45 nations. Over 100 countries have been invited, and more than two lakh people have registered online to follow the proceedings. The United Nations Secretary-General and senior officials from several international organisations will also join the discussions.
India-AI impact summit 2026 begins today: World leaders to attend
Among the prominent leaders attending the Summit are French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Spain Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, President of Switzerland Guy Parmelin, Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof, UAE Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Mauritius Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Disanayaka, Seychelles Vice President Sebastien Pillay and Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay.
In a statement, the External Affairs Ministry said that leaders from Bolivia, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Guyana, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Serbia and Slovakia are also set to participate in the Summit.
CEOs and tech leaders to join
Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw has described the response to the summit as “phenomenal”, with participation expected from nearly 100 countries. More than 100 global CEOs are likely to attend. Prominent technology leaders expected at the event include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.
Beyond high-level discussions, the summit will also feature competitions such as AI for ALL and AI by HER, offering top prizes of Rs 2.50 crore. There will also be youth-focused initiatives like YUVAi and India AI Tinkerpreneur.
An exhibition covering 70,000 square metres will showcase more than 300 exhibitors from 30 countries, giving visitors a close look at how AI is being developed and used across industries.
Guided by ‘People, Planet, Progress’
The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 is built around three main guiding principles, described as Sutras. These are: People, Planet and Progress. The discussions at the Summit are being organised into working groups, called Chakras, spread across seven connected themes.
These seven Chakras include Human Capital, Inclusion for Social Empowerment, Safe and Trusted AI, Science, Resilience, Innovation and Efficiency, and Democratizing AI Resources and AI for Economic Development and Social Good.