From AI Adoption to AI Ownership: Republic AI Summit Maps India’s AI Future

As we ushered into a new year, January was marked by the Republic Media Network holding the AI Summit and Awards 2026. Held on 19th January, this was a celebration of India’s AI feats as well as a look into the potential that Bharat’s AI future holds.

With experts and industry leaders from finance, academia, startups, healthcare, infrastructure and many more, the AI Summit and Awards 2026 shaped up to be a comprehensive dialogue on AI and associated tech.

From Adoption to Ownership: India’s AI Moment

A recurring theme that almost every speaker in the summit reiterated was that “India can no longer remain a passive adopter of global AI tools.” The focus has now shifted to India-first AI, rooted in local data, local problems, and local scale.

When elaborating on the same, the focus was on building AI efficiency and sovereignty, in ways that it made it inclusive, affordable, and accessible as well as helps solve real-world challenges at the population scale. These are efforts that will go a long way in strengthening India’s position as a technology creator, instead of a consumer

However, every speaker of the summit, albeit from any sector, gave special emphasis on aligning AI deployment with ethical, regulatory, and governance frameworks.

Conversation around Enterprise AI

One of the strongest takeaways from the summit was the shift from AI pilots to production-grade systems.

Be it speakers from the financial sector, technology, or enterprise sectors, everyone pointed out how AI is already enhancing customer experience and personalisation as well as driving operational efficiency and automation. Furthermore, they highlighted the role of AI in powering credit decisioning and risk management, while shedding light on the scope of agentic and multimodal AI systems inside organisations.

These weren’t just futuristic promises, but in fact practical solutions on measurable outcomes, scalability, and governance.

Academia as a Pillar of India’s AI Ecosystem

A key stand out highlight of the AI Summit and Awards 2026 was the recognition of academic institutions as core AI stakeholders, not just talent suppliers.

This summit saw leaders from this very sector, positioning universities as research engines for applied and foundational AI, talent incubators aligned with industry needs, and innovation hubs connecting students, startups, and enterprises.

This perspective was reinforced during the Awards segment, where institutions demonstrating deep, systemic AI adoption were recognised. This was a clear signal that education will play a decisive role in shaping India’s AI-ready workforce.

Startups, Builders, and the New AI Stack

The summit also highlighted India’s fast-growing AI startup ecosystem, with founders and product leaders discussing the leaps this nation has made in terms of multimodal AI, spatial computing, AI-driven commerce, visual discovery, agentic systems and enterprise automation, among other things.

These conversations reinforced India’s potential to create globally competitive AI products, particularly in areas where scale, diversity, and complexity demand indigenous innovation.

Startups, Builders, and the New AI Stack

The Summit was concluded by awarding deserving organizations who are a representation of India’s AI leap. These awards recognized those who aligned AI innovation with national priorities, bridged the gaps between policy, academia, and industry and in turn, pushed India forward in the direction of AI sovereignty.

The awardees were as follows: -

1. Best Voice in AI Implementation - Aditya Birla Capital
2. AI-First Organization - Chandigarh University 
3. Best AI Implementation in HR - First Source
4. Tech-First Organization - Axis Bank
5. Best Leader for Tech Transformation in NBFC - L&T Finance
6. Best AI Implementation in BPO - Startek
7. Best Leader for Driving Tech Transformation - Yes Bank

In conclusion, the AI Summit and Awards was a successful showcase of not just AI concepts, but applications, on-ground deployment and a future of home-grown AI efficiency.

Republic will keep you posted on all the sessions and insights that this summit brought forth. 

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