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India's AI Inflection Point: Industry Leaders Call for Sovereign Strategy

Industry leaders at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 declared that AI represents a fundamental infrastructure shift, not merely a technological upgrade. They emphasized the need for sovereign AI development, combining edge computing and hybrid architectures to ensure systems are accessible and secure for India. Significant concerns were raised about strategic dependency and systemic vulnerability if critical infrastructure relies on foreign-controlled AI. The summit concluded with a call for a national strategy focused on sovereignty, job transition blueprints, and energy considerations to shape the coming century.

Key Points: India's AI Infrastructure Shift & Sovereignty Push

  • AI as infrastructure shift, not just tech
  • Need for sovereign, secure AI systems
  • Call for skilling blueprint to manage job displacement
  • Strategic dependency on foreign AI is a systemic risk
2 min read

India stands at AI inflection point amid infrastructure shift: Industry leaders

Industry leaders at AI Impact Summit 2026 stress AI as national strategy, calling for sovereign design, skilling, and guardrails to shape the next century.

"AI is not just innovation. It is a national strategy. - Experts"

New Delhi, Feb 20

Industry leaders and experts on Friday hailed the 'India AI Impact Summit 2026,' saying AI is not merely a technology upgrade; it is an infrastructure shift and infrastructure determines power.

Countries have increasingly used trade and technology as strategic leverage.

According to Savi Soin, SVP and President, Qualcomm India, the country's "AI future will be defined not just by powerful models, but by how effectively intelligence reaches people, industries, and public systems at scale".

"Our collaboration with Sarvam reflects Qualcomm Technologies' long-term commitment to enabling AI for India, bringing together edge computing, hybrid AI architectures, and sovereign design principles so that AI can be accessible, secure, and impactful for every Indian," he mentioned.

Sunil Gupta, Co-Founder, MD and CEO, Yotta Data Services, said that India's AI ambition requires sustained, high-performance compute at scale.

"By combining Blackwell Ultra infrastructure with open models like NVIDIA Nemotron and the full NVIDIA AI stack, we are enabling developers to build sovereign, globally competitive AI applications from India," he mentioned.

The 'AI Impact Summit' has drawn participation from policymakers, industry leaders, researchers and startups from across the globe, positioning India as a key voice in shaping the global AI agenda.

According to industry leaders, in a post-AI world, digital dependency could play a similar role if we are not vigilant.

"If our enterprises, defence systems, financial networks, and public infrastructure rely on AI systems we do not fully control, vulnerability becomes systemic. Strategic addiction is subtle - but its consequences are structural," said Chocko Valliappa, Founder and Managing Director of Vee Technologies.

"India needs a displacement map - sector by sector, region by region - paired with a five-year skilling and transition blueprint. We need AI guardrails, liability frameworks, and shock absorbers for employment markets," Valliappa added.

Like in the US, India needs to build fast a workforce development board across every district where industry, academia and society sit together to find out how the job displacement will occur and what's skilling is needed to re-skill our people, he suggested.

There are many Indians who are global leaders in AI - researchers, founders, safety experts, chip designers, systems architects.

"AI is not just innovation. It is a national strategy. And the countries that think about sovereignty, jobs and energy will shape the next century," said experts.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

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Priya S
Valliappa's point about a "displacement map" is so important. We're rushing into AI but what about the millions in traditional jobs? We need that 5-year skilling blueprint NOW, not after people lose their livelihoods.
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Arjun K
"Sovereign AI" is the key phrase. We cannot be dependent on foreign tech giants for something this critical. Qualcomm and Sarvam's collaboration on hybrid architectures designed for India is a smart move. Our data, our rules.
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Rebecca D
As someone working in tech, the focus on edge computing is brilliant for a country like India with connectivity issues. AI that works offline in rural clinics or farms could be transformative. Hope the execution matches the vision.
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Karthik V
Good summit, good talk. But respectfully, we have too many summits and not enough ground-level implementation. Let's see these "AI guardrails" and "liability frameworks" actually get passed in Parliament. Talk is cheap.
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Meera T
The point about digital dependency is chilling. We must control our own AI destiny. Proud to see Indian leaders thinking strategically about jobs and energy, not just chasing the next shiny model. This is nation-building.

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