By CJA President Emeritus MAHENDRA VED
9/3/26
The AI Impact Summit 2026, held on February 16, 2026, in New Delhi, India, has made its arrival on the global Artificial Intelligence arena. With that, it has launched an ambitious strategy to become a major global player and a leader in the South.
According to an official statement, the AI summit was anchored in the three core pillars of “People, Planet and Progress.” It was driven by seven thematic working groups covering AI for Economic Growth and Social Good, Democratisation of AI Resources, Inclusion for Social Empowerment, Safe and Trusted AI, Human Capital, Science and Resilience, Innovation and Efficiency.
The plans combine government funding, computing infrastructure, indigenous AI models, research centres, and skills development. The centrepiece is the national IndiaAI Mission.
The Mission is being readied to devise and install AI in Governance and Public Services, with large-scale AI deployment in government systems. Provisionally, it would cover policing and crime analysis (AI systems like MARVEL), and agriculture advisory services, education platforms with AI tutors.
Reducing overseas dependence
At the level of digital governance systems and public services, it would have State (provincial) -Level AI Ecosystems. Several Indian states are already building their own AI hubs:
India’s AI strategy has three geopolitical aims: Technological sovereignty, reducing dependence on US or Chinese AI systems. The Digital Public Infrastructure leadership envisages integrating AI with systems like Aadhaar, UPI, and government platforms.
India’s AI plan is not only about technology but about economic development, strategic autonomy, and digital governance at the population scale.
India’s push into Artificial Intelligence has a strong geopolitical dimension. It is unfolding within the global technology rivalry between the United States and China and reflects India’s broader strategy of strategic autonomy—a theme that has long characterised its foreign policy.
In a hurry to catch up
AI fits into India’s geopolitical positioning. It is a New Arena of Great-Power Competition. The global AI race is currently dominated by two technological ecosystems: The United States, led by companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and NVIDIA. The Chinese endeavour is backed by firms such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.
India’s concern is that if AI infrastructure, models, and data platforms remain concentrated in these two ecosystems, it could become technologically dependent on them. Hence, it is pursuing a third pathway: building its own AI capabilities while cooperating with both sides.
For India, being colonised and unfree, had missed the Industrial Revolution and many of the technological leaps during the Cold War era of the last century. It is now in a hurry to catch up and has met with substantial success in the last eight decades.
It wants to attain Strategic Autonomy in Technology. The AI policy mirrors its traditional diplomatic approach—maintaining independence between rival blocs.
Indian languages
Under the IndiaAI Mission, New Delhi wants: Domestic AI models trained on Indian languages and data, a national AI computing infrastructure (GPU clusters), and Indian startups capable of competing globally.
The idea resembles earlier Indian efforts in space and nuclear technology, where India built indigenous capabilities to avoid external dependence.
Despite the goal of autonomy and long years of distancing from the West, India’s AI ecosystem is now deeply connected to the United States. In this, considerable help comes from the Indian Americans and those in Europe who have built their own startups and ventures. Indeed, a dozen such business and knowledge leaders of Indian origin were present at the New Delhi summit.
American semiconductor firms like NVIDIA dominate AI chips used in India. Indian AI startups often partner with US companies such as Microsoft and Google. AI cooperation is now part of the India-US strategic technology partnership.
Rivalry with China
Initiatives like the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) aim to deepen collaboration in AI, semiconductors, and quantum computing. For Washington, New Delhi is seen as a democratic technological partner in Asia.
By comparison, being in competition and generally exercising caution regarding China, India’s AI strategy also reflects its strategic rivalry with China, particularly after the border tensions following the 2020 China–India border clashes. This is even though there is growing bilateral trade with technological components. Concerned about AI surveillance technologies and Chinese influence in global digital infrastructure, India has avoided data security and technological dependence on China. It has already restricted several Chinese digital platforms, including TikTok, citing security concerns.
With a substantial base of technology and technical manpower developed over long years sees AI as an opportunity to lead the Global South.
Through its experience with digital public infrastructure—especially systems like Aadhaar and Unified Payments Interface—India hopes to export AI-enabled governance models to developing countries. This could strengthen India’s diplomatic influence across Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. AI could become a tool of digital diplomacy similar to how India promotes its digital payment systems abroad.
AI is expected to become a major driver of economic power. India hopes AI will increase productivity in agriculture and industry and strengthen its IT services sector.
For a country with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, AI applications in health care, education, and governance could also have an enormous domestic impact.
Thus, India’s AI ambitions are not merely technological—they are strategic and geopolitical. It hopes to position itself as a third pole in the global technology order and extend influence across the Global South. The emerging AI race may become one of the central arenas where it seeks to shape the balance of power in the 21st century.
