Modi Meets Indian AI Startups, Backs 'Made In India, Made For The World' AI Models

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a closed-door roundtable with leading Indian artificial intelligence startups, underlining the government’s push to position India as a global hub for ethical, inclusive and indigenous AI development ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

The meeting, held at the Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, saw participation from 12 Indian AI startups that have qualified under the Foundation Model Pillar of the IndiaAI Mission.

These startups are working across a wide spectrum of AI applications, including healthcare diagnostics, multilingual large language models (LLMs), speech-to-text and text-to-video tools, material science research, engineering simulations and advanced data analytics.

During the interaction, Modi described startups and AI entrepreneurs as the "co-architects of India’s future" and stressed that artificial intelligence would play a transformative role across sectors. He said India should present a unique AI model to the world, one that reflects the ethos of "Made in India, Made for the World."

The prime minister emphasised that Indian AI models must be ethical, unbiased and transparent, while being firmly anchored in data privacy principles. He also urged startups to focus on promoting local and indigenous content, particularly regional languages, to ensure that AI adoption in India remains inclusive and accessible.

Modi assured the startups of full government support for the successful development and deployment of their AI models, and encouraged them to aim for global leadership from India. He highlighted the opportunity for India to champion affordable and frugal AI solutions on the global stage.

Sarvam AI, one of the participating startups, said the discussion focused on India’s opportunity to shape AI as national infrastructure rather than just a research domain, calling it a moment where "choices made now begin to matter for everyone".

The roundtable was attended by representatives from startups including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra and Zenteiq. Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also present.