Inc42 AI Summit 2026: India’s AI Growth Fueled by Partners
Speakers on stage addressing a large audience at the Inc42 AI Summit 2026.
Key Highlights
Inc42 AI Summit 2026 in Bengaluru gathered 600+ leaders to discuss scaling AI in India, moving from experimentation to large-scale deployment with key partner insights.
Inc42 hosted its third AI Summit 2026 on May 28 at Sheraton Grand, Bengaluru, drawing over 600 founders, AI builders, enterprise leaders, and investors. The event, which received more than 7,000 pre-registrations and 1,500 paid applications, emphasized the critical shift from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment in India.
Key Discussions and Industry Insights
The summit featured over 60 speakers across 20+ sessions, roundtables, and workshops, exploring opportunities and challenges in India’s AI ecosystem. Discussions delved into building and scaling AI businesses, covering agentic AI systems, enterprise adoption, AI-powered fintech infrastructure, and ecommerce transformation.
Industry leaders shared their strategies for competitive advantages. V Vaidyanathan, MD and CEO of IDFC First Bank, highlighted technology as the cornerstone of long-term growth, stating, “Our magic carpet is technology. If we had gone the traditional way, we would not be anywhere close to the growth we have seen in the past seven years.”
Mohit Saxena, cofounder and CTO of InMobi and Glance, addressed structural challenges facing India’s AI ambitions, noting, “We are competing with the US on one side and China on the other. The US has trillions in funding and access to chipsets, while China is a manufacturing powerhouse.” He argued India still has significant ground to cover.
Other prominent speakers included Rahul Chari (PhonePe), Rishikesh SR (Rapido), Ish Babbar (InsuranceDekho), Vaibhav Khandelwal (Shadowfax), and Anish Achuthan ( Financial Technologies). Investor panels underscored the need to evaluate startups beyond the AI buzzword, focusing on genuine value creation.
A common theme throughout the summit was India’s imperative to produce globally competitive AI solutions, requiring a combination of innovation, execution, robust infrastructure, talent pipelines, and long-term ecosystem support.
Partner Contributions Drive Summit Success
The Inc42 AI Summit 2026 was made possible by the extensive support of various partners. IDFC FIRST Bank served as the Presenting Partner, with MD and CEO V Vaidyanathan participating in a fireside chat on ‘The Transformative Role Of AI In Banking.’ He discussed AI’s potential to make banking predictive and expand financial inclusion in India.
Co-Presenting Partners included Skyflow and Loti AI. Amruta Moktali, CPO at Skyflow, joined a panel on ‘The Operator Playbook for Building and Scaling Agentic AI Systems That Deliver Real Business ROI.’ Hirak Chhatbar, cofounder and CTO of Loti AI, contributed to discussions on ‘Algorithms, Attention & Distribution In The AI Era.’
Powered By Partners included Intellemo.ai, Avalara, Vobiz.ai, kAIgentic, StockGro, and Rubrik. Saurabh Gupta (Intellemo.ai) discussed ‘How Consumer AI Products Are Winning Distribution And Retention In India.’ Job Sam Koshy (Avalara) participated in the ‘Operator Playbook’ panel. Suman Gandham (Vobiz.ai) shared insights on ‘How Companies Are Using Voice AI To Reach The Next 500 Million Users.’
Ahmed Mazhari (kAIgentic) spoke on ‘The Playbook For Turning Enterprise Interest Into Signed AI Contracts.’ Ajay Lakhotia (StockGro) and Kshitij Shah (Digio) explored ‘Inside StockGro’s Bet On AI As The Next Investing Edge.’ Vipul Nayak (Rubrik) joined a panel on ‘How SaaS Companies Are Building Agentic Products Without Breaking Margins.’
Associate Partners for the summit included Rocketlane, Gupshup, Nurix AI, WeWork India, DialNexa, Superleap, AceCloud, CloudKeeper, SoftCore Solutions, Intugle, Rukam Capital, Peak XV Partners, Mobavenue, Brite Systems, and InterviewPanel. These partners provide diverse services from customer onboarding software and conversational messaging platforms to flexible office spaces and venture capital, supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Conclusion
The Inc42 AI Summit 2026 underscored India’s growing ambition in the artificial intelligence sector, highlighting the collaborative efforts required to transition from conceptualization to impactful deployment. The contributions of all partners were instrumental in fostering dialogues that will shape India’s AI-first future.