In a stirring speech at the AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Jeet Adani, Director at Adani Airport Holdings, envisioned India not just joining but leading the AI century. ‘It’s not about participation anymore; it’s about imprinting India’s intelligence, standards, and values on this era,’ he proclaimed on Thursday.
Reflecting on India’s IT success, Adani noted how it positioned the country as a digital services giant globally. However, the bulk of economic value from that productivity accrued abroad. AI, he argued, presents a rare chance for India to flip the script and capture homegrown gains.
Labeling the event a pivotal historical moment, Adani explained how AI will reshape sovereignty concepts. India faces choices: import AI capabilities or innovate domestically? Consume or create? Depend on foreign systems or forge independent ones?
Central to his message were three sovereignty pillars for India’s AI ascent: robust energy independence, self-reliant compute and cloud infrastructure, and sovereign service ecosystems. These pillars, he said, underpin contemporary nation-building.
Adani linked energy fragility directly to AI vulnerability, with power and data infrastructures now fused. He positioned India’s aggressive push into solar, wind, and battery storage as essential national security measures. ‘What was once environmental policy is now strategic infrastructure. Sustainable power equals intelligence supremacy,’ he declared.
Before global exports, AI must first uplift Indians, Adani insisted. He spotlighted the Adani Group’s fresh pledge: $100 billion toward a sovereign AI platform fueled by green energy, spearheaded by Gautam Adani earlier this week.
This ambitious ecosystem – blending 5 GW of power with massive compute capacity at a $250 billion scale – marks the dawn of India’s intelligence era. Unified renewables, fortified grids, and cutting-edge computing guarantee a secure, self-determined AI trajectory for the nation.