India AI Summit Raises Call For Sovereign AI: What Is It And What Are The Challenges?

Last Updated:February 17, 2026, 11:37 IST

India is demanding more local AI players to grab the market and make the data of billions of users available within the borders.

The India AI Summit is a bid to have local players like Sarvam enter the big game. (Photo: AI generated)

The India AI Impact Summit is going on in Delhi this week, where you have giants like Sam Altman from OpenAI, Microsoft, Google’s Sundar Pichai and more are part of the big event. The focus on AI is undeniable and even the Indian government is looking to make a big dash with a global event like these, especially when you have the makers of ChatGPT and Gemini in the mix.

But the longer game plan involves companies from India offering their locally-built AI models and features, which is where the clamour for Sovereign AI has been making the headlines for the last few months.

Sovereign AI For India: The Need Of The Hour, Year And Decade

Sarvam AI and its complimenting tools are claimed to be better at ChatGPT and Gemini in various AI benchmark tests and that shows the power of having a local AI model to understand the geographical needs. The government is using Sarvam as an example to get other startups and companies to build for India, and also join its IndiaAI Mission.

Sovereign AI has been talked about a lot across events and government hosting, and with the high demand and usage of ChatGPT and Gemini (both US-based models) has clearly alarmed the government to build AI tools that people can use within the country. Any possible data mishap with the global AI giants will be hard for India’s regime to act on, which is not the case with a locally-built AI model like Sarvam and others to come in the near future.

Demand For Whole AI Stack

The demand for sovereign AI is credible and paramount for the success of the industry in India. But for the technology to thrive but also survive, we need all the resources to be set up locally. This includes the hardware + software AI stack, built indigenously, and no external support required. Because if you want AI models (and agents) to handle your confidential data, you (and the government) don’t want the data to cross the borders to servers in the US or other regions.

You also realise the importance of context with AI models and how they can easily hallucinate if the training isn’t localised through the foreign models. This is why Sarvam performs better in Indic languages than ChatGPT and even Google’s Gemini, which shows the value of sovereign AI models.

There is a big reason why Gemini and ChatGPT are available for free in India for billions, and the government sees the need to intervene and get the local players assembled, and give them the platform to battle with the best in the world.

The next few years are going to be pivotal for India’s own AI ambitions and with events like the AI Summit being held, the future only shows one direction and that is keeping AI well and truly local.