"Prime Minister greatly encouraged them, explained India's AI vision": MeitY Secretary Krishnan on PM Modi's roundtable meet

New Delhi [India], January 13 (ANI): Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roundtable interaction with Indian AI startups underscored the government's vision of building responsible and ethical artificial intelligence rooted in Indian values.
"The Prime Minister had an interaction with 12 AI startups. These 12 startups were selected under the India AI Mission to build India's foundational models... The Prime Minister greatly encouraged them and explained India's AI vision and how to create responsible, ethical AI rooted in Indian values...," Krishnan told ANI.
The roundtable was held at the Prime Minister's residence in the national capital on Thursday, January 8, ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to take place in India next month.
According to an official statement from the Prime Minister's Office, the 12 startups had qualified under the AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge and used the platform to present their ideas, products and ongoing work.
The participating startups are working across a wide range of domains, including Indian language foundation models, multilingual large language models, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video technologies. Other focus areas include generative AI-driven 3D content for e-commerce and marketing, engineering simulations, material research, advanced analytics, as well as healthcare diagnostics and medical research.
During the interaction, the Prime Minister highlighted the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in society and stressed that startups and AI entrepreneurs are co-architects of India's future. He emphasised that India has the capacity not only for innovation but also for large-scale implementation, and should aim to present a unique AI model to the world that is "Made in India, Made for the World".
PM Modi also called for Indian AI models to be ethical, unbiased and transparent, with strong data privacy safeguards, while promoting affordable, inclusive and frugal innovation globally. He underlined the importance of local and indigenous content, especially regional languages, in making Indian AI distinct.
The meeting was attended by representatives of startups, including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, GAN, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra and Zenteiq, along with Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada. (ANI)