India will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026, the first global artificial intelligence summit to be held in the Global South, from 16 to 20 February 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, according to a release issued by the Press Information Bureau on Tuesday.
The summit will be organised as a five-day programme covering policy discussions, research engagement, industry participation and public outreach. It will be structured around three foundational pillars, referred to as Sutras – People, Planet and Progress – which will guide deliberations on artificial intelligence deployment and governance.
An India AI Impact Expo will be held alongside the summit and is expected to feature over 300 exhibitors from 30 countries across more than 10 thematic pavilions, according to the release. The numbers are tentative and subject to revision.
The summit programme will be organised around seven thematic areas, termed Chakras, covering human capital development, social inclusion, safe and trusted AI, resilience and efficiency, scientific research, democratisation of AI resources, and AI for economic growth and social good.
As part of the preparatory process, eight regional AI conferences were held between October 2025 and January 2026 in Meghalaya, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana. These conferences were organised in partnership with state governments to identify region-specific AI use cases, policy inputs and capacity gaps, which will feed into the summit agenda.
The main summit is expected to include keynotes, panel discussions, roundtables, industry sessions and leadership-level engagements, including meetings of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) Council scheduled for 20 February 2026. The organisers have received over 700 proposals for participation in summit sessions.
Several flagship events will be conducted during the summit period. These include the AI for All: Global Impact Challenge, AI by HER: Global Impact Challenge, and the YUVAi Global Youth Challenge, which will invite participation from students, professionals, researchers and startups. Awards under these challenges range up to Rs 2.50 crore, while the youth challenge offers prizes of up to Rs 85 lakh, as per the release.
A Research Symposium on AI and its Impact will be held on 18 February 2026, with IIIT Hyderabad as the knowledge partner. The symposium will feature plenary sessions, international research presentations and Global South research showcases.
The AI Impact Expo 2026, spread over more than 70,000 square metres, will be organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology with Software Technology Parks of India as the custodian. The expo will host seven thematic pavilions and is designed as a business-focused platform to showcase large-scale AI deployment.
The summit is supported by institutional frameworks including the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the IndiaAI Mission, Software Technology Parks of India, and the Digital India initiative. A key output of the summit will be the AI Compendium, scheduled for release on 17 February 2026, documenting real-world AI applications across priority sectors.
