AI will be one of the most transformative developments for India, he said adding that focused investments in research and development, as well as support on this front, will be critical to this journey.
It is pertinent to mention here that India is looking to assume a leadership role in the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) discourse.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a roundtable with Indian AI startups ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026. The PM asserted that the world’s trust in India is its biggest strength and emphasised the need to ensure that Indian AI models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles.
New Delhi is gearing up to host the India AI Impact Summit between February 15-20, 2026, that will see many global heads of state and CEOs from firms like Google Deepmind, Anthropic, Adobe, Salesforce, Qualcomm, and FedEx converge in the capital, and India hopes that the grand event will lead to a consensus declaration on key issues around AI.
Athar told PTI: “India already has an advantage with its service-driven economy, strong tech ecosystem and thriving startup culture”.
According to him, AI can serve as a powerful catalyst for the next phase of growth.
He said the government has been consistent in its approach of fostering entrepreneurship and AI, with initiatives like the AI Mission and efforts to build awareness of its benefits.
“This is important because anxiety often overshadows opportunity when new technologies emerge,” he said.
Inclusive discussions involving all stakeholders, through roundtables, committees and collaborative platforms, are key to achieving desired outcomes, he noted.
On the impact of AI on employment, he pointed out that concerns in the past on advent of software displacing jobs had proved unfounded and that IT had, instead, fuelled employment and growth.
“Even when the software revolution began, there were concerns around what would happen to jobs. However, software ultimately enabled manufacturing and drove India’s growth for over two decades, creating millions of jobs,” he said.
AI, similarly, has the potential to accelerate India’s progress even further, he observed.