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Bill Gates, co-founder and philanthropist of Microsoft, will not be in attendance at the India AI Impact Expo & Summit 2026 in New Delhi despite the previously mentioned speculation and media coverage indicating he would be a keynote speaker or special guest. It was announced on February 18, 2026, a day after the high-profile event was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, at Bharat Mandapam.

India Instead, in a short announcement issued late on Tuesday evening, organizers such as the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY), IndiaAI Mission, and Nasscom acknowledged that Gates would be absent:

Mr. Bill Gates extends his apologies and is not going to meet us because he has important previous engagements. We are very grateful that he has continued to support the AI journey of India and also look forward to future cooperation.

The pulled-out eleventh-hour change of heart has created an uproar on social media and in the tech sphere. Gates was highly anticipated to respond as the head of the summit, which happened to be the largest AI showcase in India, with more than 600 startups, 200 global leaders, and 50 countries as international participants. His appearance would have given the foundation immense international credibility since the Gates Foundation has been operating in India for a long time on health, agriculture, and digital inclusion.

Reporters reported that sources close to the organizers told them that Gates had been interested initially and some preliminary talks had been made in late 2025. There was, however, a mix of scheduling issues (such as an ongoing foundation commitment in Africa and the US) and the reported worries about the logistical nightmare on Day 1 (waiting queues, thefts, bad internet) that seemed to be part of the final decision. Other insiders also cited the recent backlash on the mismanagement of the summit as a potential cause.

The news was known by the Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge who had already condemned the incident as rank. mismanagement:

• First, students of Galgotias University were forced to drop out in dismay; even Bill Gates now misses the summit. Such is not the way to become an AI superpower in India.
• In a press engagement on Day 2, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who apologized over problems about Day 1, denied that Gates had missed the first day of the show:
• It has been the support of the innovation process in India by Mr. Gates. This is not a commentary on the summit but merely on his prior commitments, which cause him to miss the summit. Here we have 200+ global leaders and more than 600 Indian startups—the focus is on the actual results.
• The no-show despite the high profile has not stopped the summit, with expectations of events that have played out in high profile with executives of Google, Microsoft India, NVIDIA, and AMD, as well as significant announcements such as UPI One World and sovereign AI datasets.
• Bill Gates was last in India as recently as February 2024, where he met PM Modi and lauded the digital public infrastructure of the country. The fact that he is not attentive this time has been the bane of many in the Indian tech ecosystem, but organizers believe the event still has a process of achieving effective policy, investment, and collaboration outcomes.