AI Impact Summit’s expo in Delhi extended to Feb 21, summit closed to public on Feb 19

AI Impact Summit 2026 expo in Delhi extended to February 21 after strong public response; PM Modi to inaugurate event on Feb 19

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday announced that the AI Impact Summit’s expo, the exhibition segment of the Summit held alongside the main event at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, will be extended by a day to Saturday following a strong public response. However, the Summit, including both the expo and sessions, will remain closed to the public on Thursday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the event.

The inauguration event on Thursday is expected to begin at 10 am, when the Prime Minister is expected to showcase AI models developed under the India AI Mission (Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

The ceremony will be attended by more than 20 heads of state, top executives from global technology firms, and other dignitaries representing over 100 countries.

“To avoid inconvenience to the members of the public, since there will be a lot of VIP movement on the 19th… the expo will not be open to the public on the 19th, but it will be open on the 20th and 21st,” IT Ministry Secretary S Krishnan told the press on Wednesday.

The inauguration event on Thursday is expected to begin at 10 am, when the Prime Minister is expected to showcase AI models developed under the India AI Mission, the government’s flagship AI programme. This will be followed by a leaders’ plenary session where all heads of state will convene. Then the Prime Minister is expected to host a CEO roundtable with select tech leaders at the Convention Centre.

Separately, the government’s flagship AI programme, India AI Mission, in collaboration with Intel, set a Guinness World Record on Wednesday for the most pledges in an AI responsibility campaign in 24 hours, garnering over 250,000 pledges in just one hour.