Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired a roundtable with Indian AI start-ups at his residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. The discussion comes ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled next month. Twelve Indian AI start-ups that have qualified under the Summit’s Foundation Model Pillar participated in the roundtable, presenting their innovations across diverse areas.
Start-Ups Showcase Diverse Innovations
"These Start-ups are working in a diverse set of areas including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video; 3D content using generative AI for e-commerce, marketing, and personalized content creation; engineering simulations, material research and advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making across industries; healthcare diagnostics and medical research, among others," according to the official statement from the Prime Minister's Office dated January 8, 2026.
The AI start-ups lauded India’s commitment to building a robust AI ecosystem, highlighting the sector’s rapid growth and potential. They noted that the global center of gravity for AI innovation is increasingly shifting towards India, which now offers an enabling environment for AI development.
"The leaders said that India now offers a robust and enabling environment for AI development, firmly placing the country on the global AI map," the statement added.
PM Highlights India’s AI Transformation Agenda
During the meeting, Prime Minister highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence in bringing about transformation in society. He noted that India will host the India AI Impact Summit next month, through which the country will play a major role in the technology sector. He highlighted that India is making efforts to bring about a transformation with and leveraging AI.
He further emphasised that startups and AI entrepreneurs are the co-architects of India’s future and said that the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation. He added that India should present a unique AI model to the world that reflects the spirit of “Made in India, Made for the World.”
Focus on Ethical, Inclusive, and Localized AI
According to the official release, Prime Minister said that the world’s trust in India is the country’s biggest strength. He emphasised the need to ensure that Indian AI models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles. He said startups should also work towards global leadership from India, and noted that India can promote affordable AI, inclusive AI, and frugal innovation globally. He also suggested that Indian AI models should be distinct and should promote local and indigenous content and regional languages.
The roundtable was attended by CEOs and representatives of start-ups including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra, and Zenteiq. Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also present.
