AI Impact Summit Extended After Overwhelming Turnout

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 – the first global AI summit of its scale to be held in the Global South -has been extended by one day to February 21 after more than 2.5 lakh visitors thronged Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi within its first three days.

The India AI Impact Summit 2026, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, has been officially extended by one day and will now run until February 21, 2026, after organisers were overwhelmed by the scale of public interest. The summit, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 16, had originally been scheduled to conclude on February 20.

IT Secretary S. Krishnan confirmed the extension on X (formerly Twitter), citing an overwhelming response. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said more than 3 lakh people had registered for the summit, with roughly 2.5 lakh visitors already having attended, the majority of them under 30 years of age. Registration on the official website has been temporarily suspended due to the event being currently oversubscribed.

Expo timings have also been extended, the event will now remain open until 8:00 PM IST on February 20 and 21 (Friday and Saturday), up from the original 6:00 PM closing time. February 19 remains closed to the general public due to high-level diplomatic engagements.

The summit has drawn participation from over 110 countries and 30 international organisations, including several Heads of State and Ministers. It features more than 800 organisations exhibiting their AI technologies across over 70,000 square metres. Key global leaders including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis are among the attendees.

The summit is anchored in three guiding principles: People, Planet, and Progress, and aims to transition global AI discourse from dialogue to demonstrable impact, positioning India as a serious contender in the global artificial intelligence race.