Indian AI Startup Founders Hail PM Modi’s Vision After Historic Roundtable Meeting
New Delhi, January 11, 2026 – In a significant boost to India’s burgeoning artificial intelligence ecosystem, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level roundtable on January 8, 2026, at his residence with leaders from 12 prominent Indian AI startups. The closed-door interaction, held ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 scheduled for February in New Delhi, focused on advancing indigenous, ethical, and inclusive AI models tailored to India’s diverse needs.
The participating startups included Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth (NeuroDx), Sarvam AI, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra, and Zenteiq. These companies, which have qualified under the Foundation Model Pillar or the “AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge” for the upcoming summit, presented their innovations spanning healthcare, multilingual large language models, generative AI, engineering simulations, and more.
Prime Minister Modi described the startup founders and AI entrepreneurs as “co-architects of India’s future”, emphasizing the country’s unique capacity to combine innovation with large-scale implementation. He urged the development of AI models that are ethical, unbiased, transparent, privacy-focused, and supportive of local content, regional languages, affordability, inclusion, and frugal innovation. Under the vision of “Made in India, Made for the World”, he stressed the need for impactful, scalable solutions rather than mere prototypes or “AI toys,” assuring full government support through initiatives like the IndiaAI Mission.
The founders emerged from the meeting visibly inspired, praising the Prime Minister’s deep technical understanding, visionary leadership, and commitment to India-centric AI that addresses unique national challenges while positioning the country as a global leader.
Dr. Pratyush Kumar, Co-founder of Sarvam AI, highlighted Modi’s strong grasp of AI technologies and their long-term implications. He noted the Prime Minister’s clear vision for India to achieve global AI leadership, particularly by leveraging the nation’s linguistic diversity to create unifying, multilingual solutions.
Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder of Fractal, echoed this sentiment, stating that Modi’s vision centers on India becoming a global AI powerhouse through India-centric models accessible to every citizen in their native language.
Dr. Siddharth Panwar, CEO and Co-founder of Intellihealth (NeuroDx), described the insights as transformative, quoting the Prime Minister’s call to avoid merely replicating Western approaches and instead build AI that positively impacts ordinary people’s lives.
Nikhil Malhotra, Chief Innovation Officer at Tech Mahindra, termed the interaction a “great experience,” appreciating Modi’s emphasis on ethical and responsible AI adoption, along with practical examples of its role in societal transformation.
Ganesh Gopalan, Co-founder of Gnani AI, expressed surprise at the Prime Minister’s technical knowledge and understanding of field-specific challenges.
Collectively, the founders observed that the global center of gravity for AI innovation and deployment is shifting toward India, fueled by an enabling policy environment and growing domestic capabilities. Many shared sentiments of renewed motivation, with some noting that a decade ago, ambitious deep-tech work in India seemed unimaginable. One engineer even credited PM Modi’s vision for their decision to return to the country and contribute to its AI journey.
The meeting has generated widespread enthusiasm, with videos and clips circulating widely showing the founders’ positive reactions. As India prepares for the India AI Impact Summit 2026, this roundtable underscores the government’s strategic push to elevate homegrown AI beyond experimentation—fostering solutions that are affordable, inclusive, and globally competitive while rooted in Indian values and contexts.
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