New Delhi [India], February 19 (HBTV): Industry leaders at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 described the event as a galvanising moment for the country, highlighting India’s position as a global talent hub capable of driving innovation while ensuring inclusive growth. Discussions centred on shifting from a service-based economy to a product-oriented model and ensuring AI adoption remains focused on social good.
Speaking to ANI, Harjiv Singh, Founder and CEO of CambrianEdge.ai, said the summit is among the largest of its kind in the Global South and stressed the importance of collective understanding of artificial intelligence.
‘It’s a galvanising moment for the country to really come behind and understand what this can do and transform our country and the world as well. Look at the speakers, look at the kind of heads of state and governments getting involved in this. I think it’s very important that people understand the ramifications of AI, and I think this is a very important summit in that sense,’ Singh told ANI.
He noted that while frontier AI models remain concentrated in the United States and China, India’s demographic advantage presents a significant opportunity.
‘India can play a very important role by making sure that we use AI to educate and transform our population, especially the young one,’ he added.
Sharad Agrawal, CEO of Sify Data, described the event as a defining moment for experts to collaborate during a transformative technological era. He emphasised the need for India to transition economically.
‘We have to move away from the service economy to the product economy. We have to move up the value chain from the services to the product, and then this will assure that movement,’ Agrawal told ANI.
He further stressed the importance of developing localised solutions.
‘We also need to understand that India is unique. Indian challenges are unique, and therefore, there has to be adaptation. On top of that, there have to be a lot more Indian ways to do it, and then there are multiple innovations happening in the country currently, multiple organisations who are looking ahead and developing newer models and newer kinds of ways so that we could solve India’s problem. The world solution has never worked in India,’ he said, adding that the country must build on existing innovations to establish its leadership position.
The human dimension of AI adoption also featured prominently in discussions. Vanessa Smith, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and President of ServiceNow, highlighted the need to address ethical considerations in technology deployment.
‘If we solely make decisions based on profit, based on consumerism, we could leave a large segment of the population behind. We need to include humans in the loop at every stage of AI adoption, whether in a mature or developing economy,’ Smith told ANI.
Parthasarthy Ranganathan, Vice President and Technical Fellow at Google, emphasised the importance of applying AI for social impact, particularly in healthcare.
‘So to me, it’s particularly important to start thinking about how we can apply AI for social good. And I like the theme of this conference, which focuses on the impact of AI for good as well. I’m very excited about AI for healthcare,’ he told ANI.
Ajit Chauhan, Chairman of Amity Online, underscored India’s potential role in both human capital and hardware development within the AI ecosystem.
‘India’s role will be significant from a human capital perspective, but even from a hardware perspective. We know that AI is a five-layer cake, right from chips to applications, and right from blue skills to grey skills and to white skills. I think it’ll play a role across all five domains, and AI and India will play a significant role in the skilling, hardware and infrastructure of AI development,’ Chauhan told ANI.
(ANI)