USISPF CEO Stresses India Will Play Pivotal Role In AI As Delhi Hosts First Global AI Summit In Global South
USISPF CEO underlined how India has taken a strong lead in making AI affordable, accessible, scalable. Image courtesy: RNA
As New Delhi positions itself at the heart of the global artificial intelligence revolution, the AI Impact Summit 2026 has drawn an unprecedented gathering of world leaders, tech giants and policymakers, with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) arriving with its largest-ever American business delegation.
From Silicon Valley executives to global heads of state, Bharat Mandapam has become the epicentre of conversations shaping the future of AI and India is making clear it intends not just to participate, but to lead.
In view of the inclusive nature and the sheer scale of the key event, Mukesh Aghi, President and CEO of USISPF, described it as a strategic inflection point in US-India technology cooperation. Notably, the USISPF has arrived with more than 100 American industry leaders, its largest delegation yet for such an event.
Why has the USISPF brought its largest-ever delegation?
“When you look at some of the leaders in AI in the US, they are Indian Americans. Bringing over 100 global leaders from the US to India sends a strong message — India is critical to American companies from an AI perspective,” USISPF CEO Aghi noted.
Moreover, the presence of top US executives underscores India’s growing importance as a massive AI talent pool, a key digital infrastructure innovator, a strategic technology partner in a shifting geopolitical order.
What makes India central to the global AI conversation?
According to Aghi, India’s strength lies in its ability to build scalable, affordable digital public infrastructure, from payments to identity, that can now be layered with AI capabilities. “India has taken a strong lead in making AI more affordable, scalable and accessible. It has one of the largest structured databases to leverage that,” he said.
India’s digital stack, including Aadhaar, UPI and large-scale public service databases, provides a foundation for AI deployment at population scale, something few nations can replicate. This positions India uniquely not just as a market, but as a model for emerging economies.
India is going to play a very pivotal role in AI on a global basis, he further underlined.
What message is India sending to the global south?
The summit carries a clear geopolitical undertone: technology governance must not be monopolised by a few advanced economies. The USISPF chief noted that other developing nations can draw lessons from India’s digital transformation journey.
“The message to the rest of the world, especially the Global South, is look at how India has been able to provide digital infrastructure to citizens, and how it can leverage AI in the future.” India’s push for “sovereign AI”, the ability to develop and deploy AI aligned with national priorities while maintaining global collaboration, is emerging as a central theme.
How is the AI Impact Summit a global milestone?
The AI Impact Summit 2026 is the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South, marking a significant shift in the geography of technology leadership. Being held from February 16 to 20 in New Delhi, the summit brings together leaders from over 20 countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (February 16, 2026) welcomed delegates by invoking the summit’s theme “Sarvajana Hitaya, Sarvajana Sukhaya” (welfare for all, happiness for all), underscoring India’s emphasis on human-centric AI development. At its core, the summit reflects India’s ambition to shape an AI ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the summit agenda spans AI governance and ethics, sustainable development, public service delivery, healthcare innovation, industrial automation, cross-border technology partnerships.
