AI startups praise ethical, India-centric vision after roundtable with PM Modi

New Delhi [India], January 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interaction with leading Indian AI startups has left founders and innovators deeply inspired, reaffirming India's ambition to emerge as a global leader in artificial intelligence.
The roundtable, chaired by the Prime Minister this week, comes ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to be held in India next month.
Twelve Indian AI startups, selected under the Foundation Model Pillar of the Summit, participated in the discussions and presented their work across diverse domains, including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech and generative AI, healthcare diagnostics, engineering simulations, material research, and data-driven analytics.

Several founders highlighted the Prime Minister's deep understanding of technology, India's unique challenges, and the ethical responsibilities that accompany AI leadership.
Pratyush Kumar, Co-founder of Sarvam AI, said the Prime Minister's personal insights left a strong impression.
"The Prime Minister's insights from his personal life were very inspiring for us in terms of technical topics. He told us that there is a lot of diversity and hopes in India, but there is a unity between them."
Nikhil Malhotra, CIO of Tech Mahindra, recalled an anecdote shared by PM Modi during his visit to France to underline inclusive thinking.
"He told us in France that everyone paints with the right hand, because right-handed people are more painters. Someone tried it with the left hand. It was a very good example. So that means that the PM knows what he is saying," Malhotra said.
Malhotra emphasized that the Prime Minister clearly understands the importance of widespread AI adoption and ethical leadership.
"He also knows that AI diffusion is very important in India. He also knows that if India wants to become the Vishwaguru of AI, then India has to solve those typical problems that the world is not solving ethically and responsibly."
For Siddharth Panwar, CEO of NeuroDX, the interaction reinforced the need for India-specific innovation.
"His experience was very important to refine our thinking. No one understands India's specific needs more than him. After talking to him, we realized again that we don't have to copy the West. We have to make something that will change people's lives."
The Prime Minister's vision has also contributed to reversing brain drain, according to Parth Sarthi, Research Engineer at GAN.AI.
"I myself shifted back from the US because of the Prime Minister's vision and the India AI Mission. Now finally in India, we have the GPUs, we have the funding to actually build models that can compete with the models of the world."
Arastu Sharma, CEO of Shodh AI, described the moment as historic. "Ten years ago, we could never have imagined that I would get a chance to do this in my country with a deep tech ambitious project. So that opportunity is here now."
Articulating the ethical framework discussed during the roundtable, Ayush Gupta, CEO of Genloop, said the Prime Minister laid out a clear formula for India's AI future. "He gave a formula that India's AI has to be authentic and ethical. This is how we can leave our mark in the world. AI is going to be the self-reliant intelligence for India, and it will play a very important role in a Viksit Bharat."
Ganesh Gopalan, Co-founder of Gnani AI, was struck by the Prime Minister's technical grasp. "You won't believe that the Prime Minister does so many things. But he understands the model. He understands our problems. And he is trying to take us ahead of other countries."
For Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-founder of Fractal AI, the emphasis was on data sovereignty and inclusivity. "PM's vision is that India should become the world's biggest leader in AI. And for this, it is important that we use India's data, make India's models and make it available in our language to every citizen of India."
Sravanth Aluru, CEO of Avataar AI, highlighted the clarity of direction provided. "I think the clarity, the purpose and the role that they've given each one of us and how we'll all come together to collaborate towards putting India on the pedestal."
Looking beyond conventional AI applications, Hrishikesh Bal, CEO of BharatGen, noted the Prime Minister's forward-thinking approach. "While most people are still stuck thinking about the role of text-based LLMs and chat, he's really thinking beyond the role of AI in science, AI in innovation and the real transformation that AI is going to bring to our lives."
Prof. Sashikumaar Ganesan, Founder of Zenteiq, said the vision has reignited innovation across industries. "His vision and the entire team's vision brought the industries back to innovation and especially (in) the era of AI."
Emphasizing AI's reach at the grassroots, Abhishek Upperwal, CEO of Soket AI, called the upcoming India AI Summit a defining moment. "(AI) Impact Summit is a huge opportunity for India and we shouldn't miss it. We can go to the grassroots level and help people benefit from AI. I think that's the biggest vision idea that PM sir has told us."

These Start-ups are working in a diverse set of areas including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video; 3D content using generative AI for e-commerce, marketing, and personalized content creation; engineering simulations, material research and advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making across industries; healthcare diagnostics and medical research, among others.