Emmanuel Macron, President of France, greeted the India AI Impact Summit 2026 with a traditional ‘Namaste’ and expressed delight at returning post his 2024 tour. In his keynote, he wove a compelling yarn about a Mumbai street seller to epitomize India’s digital odyssey.
‘Decade ago: No bank for the rehriwala—no proof, no entry. Today: Phone-based payments, nationwide, free, instant,’ he shared. Beyond tech, this marks a societal renaissance.
India’s innovations dazzle, Macron said: Universal digital identities for 1.4 billion, UPI’s 20 billion monthly feats, and 500 million health IDs digitized. Unrivaled globally.
Echoing the France-India Paris AI Summit, he outlined AI principles for societal uplift in health, energy, transport, agribusiness, and services. Amid AI’s geopolitical stakes and Big Tech’s grip, India’s self-reliant model shines—small-scale language models and 38,000 affordable GPUs fueling startups.
Circling back, Macron defied past cynics who deemed India’s digital inclusion impossible; success silenced them. Current AI doomsayers claim it’s for elites only. Yet, through unity—India, France, Europe, forward-thinking firms and governments—they’ll build an AI future rooted in innovation, accountability, and human welfare.