India has launched eight indigenous foundational AI models across sectors like healthcare, science, industry, governance, and agriculture to strengthen its AI ecosystem, with models such as Avatar AI, Bharat Gen, and BrahmAI.

As part of this initiative, 30 IndiaAI Data and AI Labs have been established in Tier 2 and 3 cities, forming a planned network of 570 labs to provide foundational AI and data training under the FutureSkills program.

The summit's branding features the Ashoka Chakra, symbolizing ethical governance, with neural network graphics representing AI's role in bridging languages, industries, and regions.

Overall, the broader initiative aims to position India as a global hub for responsible and inclusive AI development, guided by principles of People, Planet, and Progress.

Key initiatives unveiled include the AI Pitch Fest for startups, global challenges for youth and women, a research symposium, and the AI Expo featuring over 300 exhibitors from India and more than 30 countries.

The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 is scheduled for February 19-20 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, bringing together global leaders, policymakers, researchers, and industry experts.

These initiatives were announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on September 21, 2025, setting the stage for the summit in early 2026.

Among the models, Bharat Gen, developed by IIT Bombay, offers multilingual and multimodal capabilities ranging from 2 billion to 1 trillion parameters.

Fractal Analytics is creating India’s first large reasoning model focused on STEM and medical problem-solving.

In addition to these projects, support for scholars has increased, and flagship events like the UDAAN AI Pitch Fest and AI Expo are being expanded.

New foundational courses on data annotation and curation will be delivered through these labs to prepare learners for participation in the AI economy.

India launched the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026, the first hosted by a Global South nation, emphasizing AI development aligned with People, Planet, and Progress across seven thematic Chakras.

These models focus on multilingual, domain-specific, scientific, healthcare, and industrial applications, aiming to foster inclusive growth and democratize AI technology.

The IndiaAI Fellowship Program has been expanded to support 13,500 scholars across disciplines, with a dedicated portal for applications, mentorship, and tracking progress.

India's Minister of Electronics & IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, highlighted significant progress in AI infrastructure, including increasing GPUs from 1,000 to 38,000, and emphasized the distribution of 570 Data Labs nationwide to promote inclusive growth.

The projects were selected from over 500 proposals, aiming to foster inclusive growth by locating AI Data Labs across diverse regions of India.

Key projects include Avatar AI, which focuses on domain-specific avatars optimized for Indian languages and sectors like agriculture and healthcare.

Tech Mahindra Maker’s Lab is designing an 8-billion parameter model for Indic languages and an AI platform called Orion for government applications.

Zenteiq’s BrahmAI is a multimodal foundation model aimed at industrial innovation, supporting all 22 scheduled Indian languages with models like GenLoop.

Innovative projects like Intellihealth are developing AI tools for EEG signal analysis to aid neurological screening, while Shodh AI is working on AI-driven material discovery for scientific research.