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On February 17, 2026, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi opened the India AI Impact Expo 2026 at the apeccent Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, and the premier AI-centric exhibition event to date, in India. Over 600 Indian startups, over 200 global leaders, 50+ global delegations, and thousands of representatives of the whole world have been united on a single roof in the course of the three-day event (February 17-19).

The expo focuses on artificial intelligence and is named AI to All - Impacting Lives, Transforming India and is jointly organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), IndiaAI Mission and Nasscom. It will include live shows, product demonstrations, policy round tables, investor connect sessions, and the introduction of state of the art AI solutions in healthcare, agriculture, education, defence, governance, climate action and enterprise.

During his first speech as PM, Modi noted that India was looking forward to achieving a global powerhouse concerning AI, although the technology should be inclusive and ethical.

Key announcements included:

• Introduction of UPI One World - is a prepaid wallet enabling foreigners to transact in UPI without an Indian SIM.
• Growth of IndiaAI Datasets Platform - open-source high-quality and sovereign datasets to Indian stakeholders and researchers.
• Tier-2 cities New AI Centres of Excellence 1 million youth AI skilling by 2027.
• Coordination of MoU between Indian startups and global powerhouse, such as Google, Microsoft, NVIDIA and AMD to co-develop and enter markets.

Minister of Union Aswath Damodaran, known as Vaishnaw, was also present on the stage and apologised to the crowd on the problems with the logistics on Day 1 (long queues, internet problems, etc.) and assured that Day 2 would be even easier. Instead, he highlighted that India is not only shifting to AI consumption, but also creation and strives to establish its own sovereign, secure AI infrastructure.

The expo will have special pavilions:

• Startup zone (600+ innovators with solutions in GenAI, computer vision, robotics and vertical AI)
• International companies and governments Global Innovation Hub (international companies and governments)
• Government Showcase (Aadhaar, Ayushman Bharat, Smart Cities, and Krishi AI) Gamechangers Government Showcase An overview of AI applications used in government projects.
• Women in artificially intelligence zone and student hackathon.

More than 50 in parallel events comprise CEO fireside, investor pitch events, and policy discussions of AI ethics, data sovereignty, and regulation. It is already a buzz about the event, as many refer to it as the counterpart of AI conferences around the world such as CES or VivaTech in India.

As the market for AI in India is expected to hit USD 17 billion by the year 2027, the India AI Impact Expo 2026 is being regarded as one of the landmark occasions to establish the nation as a reliable and innovation-oriented AI location to the world.