New Delhi, Jan 8: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday underlined that the world’s trust in India is its greatest strength and stressed the need for Indian Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to be ethical, unbiased, transparent and firmly grounded in data privacy principles. He also said that Indian AI models should be distinct in character and promote local and indigenous content, including regional languages.
Chairing a roundtable with leading Indian AI startups ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the Prime Minister urged entrepreneurs to work towards achieving global leadership from India. He said the country can emerge as a global hub for affordable, inclusive AI solutions and frugal innovation, according to an official statement.
Modi described startups and AI entrepreneurs as co-architects of India’s future and highlighted their critical role in shaping the next phase of technological and societal transformation. As many as 12 Indian AI startups, which have qualified for the ‘AI for All: Global Impact Challenge’ summit scheduled next month, attended the roundtable and presented their ideas and ongoing work.
Later, in a post on social media platform X, the Prime Minister said he had an insightful interaction with young innovators from India’s startup ecosystem. He praised their vision and efforts, noting that Indian startups are actively transforming the AI landscape across diverse domains such as e-commerce, marketing, engineering simulations, material research, healthcare and medical research.
Modi said the discussion also focused on leveraging AI for greater societal good. He reiterated the government’s support for all stakeholders working in the AI domain to strengthen the spirit of “Made in India, Made for the World.” Emphasis was laid on making AI affordable, inclusive and transparent so that its benefits reach the widest possible sections of society.
Highlighting the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, the Prime Minister said India is making concerted efforts to harness AI for development and governance. He noted that the country possesses immense capacity for innovation as well as large-scale implementation, positioning it uniquely in the global technology ecosystem.
India, he said, should present a unique AI model to the world that reflects its values, diversity and developmental priorities. The upcoming India AI Impact Summit will provide a significant platform for showcasing India’s growing role in the global AI sector.
The participating startups are working across a wide range of areas, including Indian language foundation models, multilingual large language models, speech-to-text and text-to-audio technologies, text-to-video solutions, and generative AI-driven 3D content for e-commerce and marketing. Other focus areas include engineering simulations, material research, advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making, and healthcare diagnostics and medical research.
The startup leaders appreciated the Centre’s strong commitment to strengthening the AI ecosystem and pointed to the rapid growth and vast potential of the sector. They observed that the centre of gravity of AI innovation and deployment is increasingly shifting towards India, which now offers a robust and enabling environment for AI development.
The meeting was attended by CEOs and senior representatives of AI startups including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra and Zenteiq. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also present.
