India Emerges as AI Epicenter with Talent, Models & Global Summit

The report from India Narrative said India's remarkable strides in the AI domain makes it a powerhouse of innovation and a voice for equitable global AI governance.

It highlighted that the country's AI market is projected to grow at a 25-35 per cent CAGR through 2027 and ranks among the top globally in AI funding and competitiveness.

It tops the global charts in AI talent acquisition, with an annual hiring rate around 33 per cent and AI skill penetration 2.5 times the global average in relevant roles.

India is more than an apt host, but the "most fitting venue due to the country's explosive advancements in AI infrastructure and capabilities," it said.

The IndiaAI Mission, launched in 2024 with allocation of Rs 10,300 crore deployed over 38,000 GPUs, far exceeding initial targets, to provide subsidised, world-class compute access to startups, researchers, and students at rates as low as Rs 67 per hour.

BharatGen, the world's first government-funded multimodal large language model and indigenously developed Sarvam-1 optimised for 10 major Indian languages marked a push toward sovereign, multilingual AI, the report said.

It also highlighted how India's digital public infrastructure proved the ability of scalable systems to overtake traditional models.

"This foundation makes India an ideal testing ground for real-world AI applications, from multilingual models addressing language barriers (via BHASHINI, supporting over 35 languages) to AI-driven solutions in public services," the report said.

The earlier summits in UK, Seoul and France hosted in the 'Global North,' could have overlooked the priorities of developing nations such as equitable access, inclusive growth, and AI's role in addressing poverty, climate challenges, and public health, the report said.

India, as the world's largest democracy and a rising economic force, brings the perspective of the Global South to the table, championing the "AI for All" motto, it remarked.

India AI Impact Summit 2026, bringing together world leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, as well as tech leaders such as Sundar Pichai of Google and Sam Altman of OpenAI, positions the country "at the center of a pivotal global conversation on artificial intelligence," the report noted.

- IANS