India, being a country with a population of 140 crore, is a country with high potential and manpower. All that’s needed is to leverage this manpower to be the global leader and not a consumer. This was what came out as the crux during a session at the India AI Impact Summit 2026.
The session titled AI for Everyone: Empowering People, Businesses, and Society addressed the multiple problems that Indians face on a daily basis and how AI is being leveraged to address those.
Sharing an example, K. Prathap Siva Kishore, IPS Officer, said that AI has a lot of potential and can be used across multiple domains. The Andhra Pradesh Police has already created an app to support the officers to boost their work, especially as they have a shorter time frame, and they are short-staffed and overworked most of the time. According to him, AI is an enabler.
On the ways to use AI for the public, Mahanaryaman Scindia of EtharaAI said, “India needs to leverage its talent potential. The country produces about 5 million developers and about 1.5 million engineers a year. Additionally, you have to look at the digital ecosystem. Almost 75% mobile penetrations has happened in India, with 100% 4G and 5G access. It shows that the ecosystem is ready. India is ready to get a $30 Bn dollar market value globally.”
However, as the primary challenged he noted that Indians tend to become service providers. Young Indian engineers and tech professionals go and settle in the US. They create their products there and sell it to India. That mindset needs to change.
“We have to acknowledge our own ecosystem. It is time when young people need to leverage ecosystem of India and build for our own country. We just have to be persistent and keep working hard instead of looking for shortcuts to make money,” he added.
Sharing an example he said that Zomato wasn’t this big. It was the Eternal team’s years of efforts and hard work that the company has reached this height.
On the role of the government in creating this mindset, Lav Agarwal of Ministry of Commerce & Industry said, “I think it is important for people to look at AI as an inclusive tool. The government at both the centre and the state levels should look at embedding this into DPI. We have to think of AI as an enabler.”
Talking about the use cases, he share the example of agriculture in which AI can be used in functions ranging from solid analysis to crop quality analysis.
Further adding to the ideas to explore the potential of AI in education, Pulkit Swarup of PhysicsWallah said, “AI and information is accessible to all. Right now the need is to use AI as a tool to help people navigate those information.”
Talking about the edtech’s use of AI, he said that the company offers AI to the students as mentor. Students commonly face the question ‘what next’. With the help of AI, PhysicsWallah offers mentorship. The tools analyses the students’ behaviour and history to help with the options to explore and drop going ahead.
Concluding the session, Lav Agarwal said, “India needs to look its potential to be the leader instead of consumer.
