The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, has unveiled the official logo and a series of transformative flagship initiatives for the upcoming India-AI Impact Summit 2026, to be held on February 19–20, 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.
In a landmark announcement, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, along with S. Krishnan, Minister of State for MeitY, Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, senior MeitY officials, and international AI leaders, launched the summit’s logo and outlined the vision and agenda ahead.
Hosted for the first time by a Global South nation, the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 is guided by the sutras of People, Planet, and Progress, and will focus on seven thematic “Chakras” — Human Capital, Inclusion, Safe & Trusted AI, Resilience, Science, Democratising AI Resources, and Social Good — reflecting India’s commitment to people-centric AI development.
Official Logo: A Symbol of Inclusive and Ethical AI
The official summit logo incorporates the Ashoka Chakra, a symbol of justice, governance, and constitutional values. From its center, neural network flares radiate outward, representing the transformative power of AI across languages, regions, and industries, and India’s role in driving inclusive and responsible AI progress.
Key Flagship Initiatives Announced
The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 will spotlight six flagship initiatives aimed at democratising AI innovation and addressing global challenges:
- UDAAN – Global AI Pitch Fest: A global stage for AI startups, spotlighting emerging talent from India’s Tier 2 & 3 cities, women-led ventures, and differently-abled innovators.
- YuvaAI Innovation Challenge: An initiative to empower youth to create AI solutions for real-world challenges in public and social sectors.
- AI by HER: Designed to foster leadership, mentorship, and innovation among women in AI.
- Global Innovation Challenge for All: Open to global participants, this challenge promotes impactful AI solutions across key domains.
- Research Symposium: A one-day interdisciplinary gathering bringing together leading AI researchers from India, the Global South, and international institutions.
- AI Expo – Expo for Responsible Intelligence: Featuring 300+ exhibitors from India and 30+ countries, with 10+ thematic pavilions highlighting responsible and cutting-edge AI technologies.
India Launches Eight Indigenous Foundational Model Projects
Under the IndiaAI Foundation Models initiative, eight major projects have been launched to develop domain-specific, multilingual AI models trained on India-centric data. Selected from over 500 proposals, these initiatives represent a major leap in building India’s AI capabilities:
- Avatar AI – Specialised avatars (up to 70B parameters) for Indian languages and sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, and governance.
- IIT Bombay – Bharat Gen – Multilingual and multimodal models (2B to 1T parameters) supporting agriculture, finance, legal, health, and education, with an open-source approach.
- Fractal Analytics – India’s first large reasoning model (up to 70B parameters) focused on STEM, medical diagnostics, and structured problem-solving.
- Tech Mahindra Maker’s Lab – Development of an efficient 8B parameter model for Indic languages and an agentic AI platform for government applications.
- Zenteiq – BrahmAI – Multimodal foundation model (8B–80B parameters) for scientific computing and industrial R&D.
- GenLoop – Small language models (2B parameters) — Yukti, Varta, and Kavach — to support all 22 scheduled Indian languages.
- Intellihealth – A 20B parameter model for EEG analysis, enabling early detection of neurological disorders and supporting brain-computer interface research.
- Shodh AI – A 7B parameter model designed to accelerate materials discovery and integrate AI into experimental research workflows.
Progress on AI Infrastructure and Inclusion
Speaking at the launch, Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasised India’s rapid AI progress:
“The India AI mission has made very good progress. From the beginning, our aim was to provide better compute facilities to a large number of students and researchers. We had a target of 10,000 GPUs — today, we have 38,000, which is significant progress.”
He further added:
“AI Data Labs are being set up across diverse regions to ensure inclusive access. These 570 labs will serve as innovation hubs, offering resources and opportunities to young talent across the country — a step aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of equal opportunity for all.”
India-AI Impact Summit 2026: A Global Platform for AI Leadership
The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 is poised to be one of the world’s largest gatherings on artificial intelligence, bringing together heads of state, policymakers, researchers, innovators, and industry leaders from around the globe.