AI Impact Summit 2026 Day 4 Live Updates: Chandra Lays Out Tata Group's Plans; Ashwini Vaishnav Spells The 5 Layers

At the AI Summit, Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran highlighted how artificial intelligence is set to redefine the global technology landscape—and why India has a unique opportunity to lead this transformation.

Chandrasekaran called AI the single biggest opportunity before the IT industry, noting that enterprises now have the chance to integrate AI across every layer of their operations. From core processes to customer-facing functions, AI-led transformation, he said, will unlock unprecedented efficiency, innovation, and scale.

Tata Group’s Big Bet on AI Infrastructure: Reaffirming the group’s long-term commitment to digital futures, Chandrasekaran revealed that the Tata Group is building one of India’s largest data‑centre capacities. This massive infrastructure push is designed to support the growing compute needs of AI, cloud, and next‑generation enterprise technologies.

Building an AI Operating System for Industry: Chandrasekaran also underscored the work underway at TCS and Tata Communications, which are jointly building an AI operating system tailored for industrial ecosystems. This platform aims to help enterprises deploy AI seamlessly, securely, and at scale—creating a common AI fabric for manufacturing, logistics, energy, and other sectors.

Chairman of the Tata Group, N Chandrasekaran, says, "Over the past few years, under our Prime Minister's vision, India has treated AI as a strategic national capability, aligning the full stack from chips to systems to energy to applications. Through Semicon India, an India AI mission and most importantly, the recent reforms such as the Shanti Act for clean energy. We are building AI at scale with trust, resilience and long-term competitiveness..."

Ashwini Vaishnaw, while addressing the India AI Summit on Day 4 said India is advancing its AI ecosystem by strengthening all five layers of the AI stack—from applications to energy. Here’s how:

1. Application Layer: This is where real ROI emerges. We are focused on building practical, high‑impact AI applications that solve industry challenges and create measurable value.
2. Model Layer: AI sovereignty is a strategic priority. With the right model strategy, more than 90% of real‑world use cases can be effectively addressed using smaller, domain‑focused models—optimised for cost, performance and local relevance.
3. Compute Layer: To accelerate innovation, we have built a common compute platform with 38,000 GPUs, enabling startups, academia, and students to access cutting‑edge AI infrastructure and experiment at scale.
4. Infrastructure Layer: A major policy shift is underway to position India as a global hub for data. By enabling global datasets to be designed, processed, and served from India, we can deliver high‑value digital services to the world.
5. Energy Layer: Our AI ambition is backed by a strong sustainability commitment. Over 50% of India’s power generation capacity now comes from renewable sources, ensuring clean, future‑ready energy for large‑scale AI workloads.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and OpenAI have announced a multi-dimensional strategic partnership, that will drive AI-powered innovation across enterprise, consumer, and social sectors. This partnership spans multiple high-impact areas, including powering AI-led innovation across Tata Group companies, joint efforts to drive AI transformation across industries globally, and setting up AI infrastructure.

Read Full News: Tata Group, OpenAI In Pact To Train Employees, Build Data Centre Capacity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in the India AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam, Delhi.

PM Narendra Modi will participate in the Opening Ceremony of India AI Impact Summit 2026, which will start at around 9.40 a.m. He will then address the ceremony around 10.25 a.m.

Following the Inaugural Session, invitees may attend other scheduled sessions at Level 3, exit the Level 3 Plenary Hall and proceed to the Food Court or the AI Impact Expo Arena. Re-entry to Level 3 shall be permitted, subject to local access arrangements and availability of seats.

Self-drive vehicles: Limited parking facilities shall be available at the following locations:

1. Purana Qila Parking-1.6km
2. Zoo Parking Space-3 kms
3. JLN Stadium Parking 4.8 kms
4. Shuttle services will ply from these locations to Bharat Mandapam Gate No. 4.

Intermittent traffic restrictions may be experienced during the day, in and around the ITPO area. All registered delegates, including invitees, speakers, attendees, and other stakeholders are requested to take note of this revised access protocol and plan their arrival accordingly.

All concerned are advised to cooperate fully with security and traffic personnel and to strictly adhere to the instructions issued on-site to ensure smooth and secure conduct of the event.

The Gates Foundation India announced that Bill Gates will not deliver his planned keynote at the February 2026 India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, citing a focus on summit priorities; Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Offices, will represent the organisation instead.

• Invitees, with only valid badges for the Inaugural Ceremony may enter through Gate No. 4 or Gate No. 10 from 6:00 a.m. onwards, upon displaying their badge and proceed to the Level 3 Plenary Hall.
• Invitees are advised to arrive early and enter the gates no later than 7:30 a.m. in view of security protocols. Seating shall be on a first come, first-served basis.
• Invitees with vehicular passes shall enter through Gate No. 1.
• Gate No.5A shall be used by accredited media, along with the Media Centre Staff Officials deployed at the Media Centre (PIB, Ministry of I&B, MEA and MeitY staff) for drop off till 7.30 a.m. and then after 11 a.m.
• Golf cart facility shall be available for transit within the complex.

Today, the event will start at 9:40 a.m. with the welcome remarks by MC. An official video of 5 minutes will be played after that. The rest of the schedule from 10:00 a.m to 12:00 noon is as follows:

• Welcome Address by Ashwini Vaishnaw (Minister of Electronics & IT): 9:49 a.m.- 9:54 a.m.
• Keynote: N Chandrasekaran (Chairman, Tata Sons): 9:55 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
• Keynote: Emmanuel Macron (President of France): 10:16 a.m. - 10:24 a.m.
• Keynote: Mukesh Ambani (Chairman and MD, Reliance): 11:00 a.m. - 11:12 a.m.
• Fireside Conversation with Sunil Mittal, Founder & Chairman, Bharti Enterprises and Shantanu Narayen, Chairman and CEO, Adobe: 11:14 a.m. - 11:34 a.m.
• Keynote: Vishal Sikka, Founder and CEO, Vianai: 11:36 a.m. - 11:48 a.m.

Inaugural session and other events on February 19 are invite basis only. Guests need to have physical passes. Normal QR codes for delegates will not work. Guests to be seated by 7.30 a.m.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the India AI Impact Summit 2026 today. The opening ceremony will also feature addresses by French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres, and several top industry leaders from around the world.

Following the inaugural session, Modi and other dignitaries are scheduled to tour the India AI Impact Expo 2026, which showcases country pavilions and technology demonstrations from participating nations.

Around noon, the Prime Minister will take part in the Leaders’ Plenary, a platform bringing together Heads of State, ministers, and senior representatives of multilateral institutions. The session will focus on global and national AI priorities, including governance frameworks, infrastructure development, and international collaboration.

Later in the day, beginning at 5.30 p.m, Modi will join a CEO roundtable featuring senior executives from major global technology and industry firms. Discussions are expected to centre on investment opportunities, research partnerships, supply‑chain resilience, and the deployment of AI systems at scale.