Business News | Industry Leaders Highlight Transition to Product Economy, Inclusive Growth at India AI Impact Summit 2026

New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): Industry leaders at the India AI Summit 2026 described the summit as a galvanising moment for the country, highlighting India's unique position as a talent hub capable of driving innovation on a global scale. The discussions focused on moving from a service-based economy to a product-oriented one while ensuring that AI adoption remains inclusive and focused on social good.

Speaking to ANI, Harjiv Singh, Founder and CEO of CambrianEdge.ai, stated that the summit is one of the largest of its kind in the global south and emphasised the importance of a collective understanding of the technology.

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"It's a galvanising moment for the country to really come behind and understand what this can do and transform our country and the world as well. Look at the speakers, look at the kind of heads of state and governments getting involved in this. I think it's very important that people understand the ramifications of AI, and I think this is a very important summit in that sense," Singh told ANI.

He noted that while frontier models currently remain concentrated in the US and China, India's demographic advantage provides a unique opportunity. "India can play a very important role by making sure that we use AI to educate and transform our population, especially the young one," he added.

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Sharad Agrawal, CEO of Sify Data, characterised the event as a defining moment that allows experts to brainstorm in a transformative era. He emphasised the necessity for India to transition its economic focus. "We have to move away from the service economy to the product economy. We have to move up the value chain from the services to the product, and then this will assure that movement," Agrawal said to ANI.

He also noted that India must develop localised solutions, asserting that "we also need to understand that India is unique. Indian challenges are unique, and therefore, there has to be adaptation. On top of that, there have to be a lot more Indian ways to do it, and then there are multiple innovations happening in the country currently, multiple organisations who are looking ahead and developing newer models and newer kinds of ways so that we could solve India's problem. The world solution has never worked in India" and that the country must add to existing innovations to create its own leadership position.

The human element of AI adoption was also a key theme at the summit. Vanessa Smith, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and President of ServiceNow, emphasised the need to consider ethical implications in technology deployment. "If we solely make decisions based on profit, based on consumerism, we could leave a large segment of the population behind. We need to include humans in the loop at every stage of AI adoption, whether in a mature or developing economy," Smith told ANI.

Parthasarthy Ranganathan, Vice President and Technical Fellow at Google, highlighted the energy of the summit and the value of diverse perspectives in shaping AI's evolution. He pointed toward AI in sectors such as healthcare. "So to me, it's particularly important to start thinking about how we can apply AI for social good. And I like the theme of this conference, which focuses on the impact of AI for good and as well. I'm very excited about AI for healthcare," he told ANI.

Speaking to ANI, Chairman of Amity Online, Ajit Chuahan, said, "India's role will be significant from a human capital perspective, but even from a hardware perspective. We know that AI is a five-layer cake, right from chips to applications, and right from blue skills to gray skills and to white skills. I think it'll play a role across all five domains, and AI and India will play a significant role in the skilling, hardware and infrastructure of AI development." (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)