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India showcased a range of advanced artificial intelligence models at the AI Impact Summit 2026 held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.
Sovereign AI models emerged as a key attraction at the expo, drawing strong interest from delegates and industry leaders. Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government is planning major infrastructure investments to scale these models and make them widely accessible across the country.
Vaishnaw told new agency PTI that the sovereign models have withstood all parameters at par with global big AI tech models.
“Sovereign models have been launched here. You can go and see and see how they stand on the global parameters. In the coming time, AI mission 2.0, there will be a need to prepare a large infrastructure for sovereign models. This will bring India’s availability to a new level,” Vaishnaw said.
The large language models have been commercially rolled out by global tech giants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, etc.
The Bengaluru-based startup Sarvam AI is emerging as one of the standout Indian exhibitors at the AI Impact Summit, 2026.
Founded in 2023, the homegrown AI firm has gained attention for its model Sarvam Vision, which recently secured top benchmark scores in optical character recognition (OCR), the technology that enables machines to read and interpret text from images and documents.
The Minister said that foreign investors are taking interest to invest in India and finalised investment of over Rs 20,000 crore, which will materialise over the next 1-2 years.
The participants complained about long queues, overcrowding and confusion at the venue, saying they had to wait for hours. Some also reported limited access to food and water and said their products were stolen from their stall.
Vaishnav said that there has been a huge response from the public creating a fuss as registrations crossed three lakh already.
“There is a very strong response. More than three lakh people have registered. All sessions are overflowing. There is a response about the AI Summit among all the people. There is a lot of excitement,” Vaishnaw added.
Vaishnaw also apologised to exhibitors for "any issue or inconvenience".
Sovereign AI models emerged as a key attraction at the expo, drawing strong interest from delegates and industry leaders. Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government is planning major infrastructure investments to scale these models and make them widely accessible across the country.
India’s decisive stride into the AI-powered future!
PM @narendramodi Ji inaugurated the India AI Impact Expo 2026 today.
📍Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi pic.twitter.com/rSrvg5D5HT
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) February 16, 2026
Vaishnaw told new agency PTI that the sovereign models have withstood all parameters at par with global big AI tech models.
“Sovereign models have been launched here. You can go and see and see how they stand on the global parameters. In the coming time, AI mission 2.0, there will be a need to prepare a large infrastructure for sovereign models. This will bring India’s availability to a new level,” Vaishnaw said.
Global AI leaders uniting at the AI Impact Summit, to discuss and bring out AI’s real impact on society.
Shaping AI for humanity: responsibly, inclusively, and at scale. pic.twitter.com/sdfwIekfbb
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) February 17, 2026
The large language models have been commercially rolled out by global tech giants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, etc.
India's role in AI models
The Bengaluru-based startup Sarvam AI is emerging as one of the standout Indian exhibitors at the AI Impact Summit, 2026.
Founded in 2023, the homegrown AI firm has gained attention for its model Sarvam Vision, which recently secured top benchmark scores in optical character recognition (OCR), the technology that enables machines to read and interpret text from images and documents.
The Minister said that foreign investors are taking interest to invest in India and finalised investment of over Rs 20,000 crore, which will materialise over the next 1-2 years.
Overcrowded venue
The participants complained about long queues, overcrowding and confusion at the venue, saying they had to wait for hours. Some also reported limited access to food and water and said their products were stolen from their stall.
Vaishnav said that there has been a huge response from the public creating a fuss as registrations crossed three lakh already.
“There is a very strong response. More than three lakh people have registered. All sessions are overflowing. There is a response about the AI Summit among all the people. There is a lot of excitement,” Vaishnaw added.
Vaishnaw also apologised to exhibitors for "any issue or inconvenience".
