AI Impact Summit Signals India’s Global AI Intent: Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon

As New Delhi prepares to host the India AI Impact Summit 2026 from February 16–20, Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon says the event sends a clear message: India intends to play a serious role in shaping the future of artificial intelligence.

Speaking to PTI, Tandon said the global gathering of governments, industry leaders and academics demonstrates both ambition and readiness.

"It also signals to the world that India is serious about AI. Given the demographic dividend that we have as a country, it's a tremendous opportunity for India to leverage that and give gifts to the world. Because I think India's learning will not be contained within India. Everyone can learn from it," she said.

The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South. It will centre on the themes of ‘People, Planet and Progress’, placing development and societal impact at the heart of the agenda.

Building Institutional Capacity

Weeks ahead of the summit, Tandon and her husband, Ranjan Tandon, formalised a ₹100 crore endowment to establish the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence at IIM Ahmedabad.

For Tandon, the timing is not incidental.

She described the initiative as a step towards strengthening India’s long-term AI capabilities, particularly in translational research, applying AI to real-world management and sectoral challenges.

"This will create a school of data science and AI at IIM Ahmedabad, my alma mater, and it is going to be the first of its kind in a management institution. I think it's a real milestone for India. The focus of this school will be on translational research to look at how AI is going to affect different segments of management, different functions in management, and different industrial verticals," she said.

From agriculture to healthcare and education, the school aims to examine how AI can address defined operational problems rather than remain confined to theoretical advances.

Tandon framed AI not merely as a technological shift, but as a structural one.

"AI is redefining territories, redefining business, redefining society. It's a genie that's come out of the bottle. It's not something we're going to contain, so we're going to have to think very carefully about impact: impact on security, productivity and on the future of work," she said.

Her vision for the school rests on what she calls F.I.R.E.: foundational work, impact, research and education, with an emphasis on partnerships across institutions rather than competition.

"There's going to be a lot of focus on creating a new kind of thinker...we have to now teach people about critical thinking, ethical thinking, and emotional thinking. Those are some of the issues that are going to change governance and management," she added.

Policy Backing And Industry Signalling

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, present at the MoU exchange on January 29 along with Ambassador Vinay Kwatra (virtually from the US), described the move as a “solid reflection” of steps being taken to position India as a global AI player.

Tandon, a former McKinsey partner and founder of Tandon Capital Associates, has previously supported engineering education at New York University through a $100 million gift that led to the naming of NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. Her latest endowment turns that focus towards AI-led management education in India.

As the summit approaches, the dual developments, a global convening in New Delhi and a new AI institution in Ahmedabad, together point to a coordinated attempt to align policy ambition with institutional capacity.

Whether that translates into sustained global influence will depend less on announcements and more on execution. For now, the message is clear: India wants a seat at the centre of the AI conversation.