“Design, develop & Deliver to the world, deliver to humanity": PM Modi pitches India as global hub for affordable, scalable AI at summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday pitched India as a global hub for affordable and scalable artificial intelligence, asserting that innovations developed in the country could be deployed worldwide. Speaking at an AI summit in New Delhi, Modi said India believes AI should be shared openly and democratically, rather than treated as a strategic asset by a few countries or companies.

The summit, billed as the largest AI conference held in a developing nation, brought together more than a dozen heads of state and senior executives from global AI firms including OpenAI, Alphabet Inc. and Anthropic PBC. The government used the platform to highlight India’s engineering talent, policy clarity and large tech-ready population as an alternative to AI ecosystems dominated by the US and China.

Major investment announcements marked the event. OpenAI said it would partner with the Tata Group to build a large-scale data centre in India, while billionaire Gautam Adani announced plans to invest $100 billion by 2035 in AI-ready data centres. Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said more than $200 billion in AI investments are expected over the next two years.

The summit also underscored India’s push for homegrown innovation. Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI unveiled a model designed for India’s linguistic and cultural diversity, positioning it as an alternative to tools such as ChatGPT and Claude.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who also addressed the summit, said India’s AI-led digital transformation could deliver solutions across agriculture, healthcare and transportation, calling the country’s digital model “truly revolutionary.”