The opening day of the India AI Influence Summit 2026, billed as a landmark gathering of policymakers, startups and international know-how leaders, bumped into turbulence Day 1 of the marquee occasion as logistical breakdowns and security-driven disruptions left many attendees annoyed and questioning the execution of one of many nation’s marquee tech occasions.
Hosted at Bharat Mandapam, the summit drew massive crowds desirous to take part in conversations round synthetic intelligence, innovation and India’s digital ambitions. As a substitute, many members encountered lengthy queues starting early within the morning, restricted entry, patchy web connectivity and confusion over motion contained in the venue.
Attendees described ready hours for entry, solely to face an surprising evacuation round noon forward of the scheduled go to of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Safety sanitisation protocols led to halls being cleared and entry gates shut for a number of hours, successfully halting participation for a big part of delegates and exhibitors.
Founders spotlight hurdles
For startup founders who had travelled throughout the nation to showcase their work, the disruptions translated into missed alternatives and in a single case of economic losses.
Punit Jain, founding father of Reskilll, posted a timeline of the day’s occasions on social media, highlighting early morning queues, delayed entry and the eventual shutdown of entry. He criticised what he described as a disconnect between the summit’s said purpose of empowering builders and the on-ground expertise of these very members.
“Don’t mobilise the ecosystem after which displace them,” he wrote, arguing that clearer communication about restricted entry may have prevented confusion.
Comparable issues had been raised by Dhananjay Yadav, co-founder of NeoSapien, who stated the safety sweep uncovered coordination gaps. In accordance with Yadav, a number of safety groups issued conflicting directions whereas clearing the exhibition space, forcing startups to go away cubicles abruptly.
Yadav alleged that prototype AI wearables his firm had introduced for show later went lacking through the restricted-access window, elevating questions on asset security inside a high-security zone. The startup had invested in journey, logistics and exhibition prices to take part in what it noticed as a defining platform for India’s rising AI {hardware} ecosystem.
Past security-related disruptions, members additionally pointed to fundamental infrastructure challenges — together with restricted entry to consuming water, crowded meals counters and reliance on money funds — points many stated felt misplaced at a summit targeted on cutting-edge digital transformation.
Yavanika Shah, named amongst Asia’s main authorized innovators in 2023, described the expertise with irony, noting that whereas discussions inside centred on constructing the longer term, attendees exterior grappled with visitors congestion, lengthy queues and insufficient facilities.
The mismatch between ambition and execution turned a recurring theme in attendee reactions. A number of founders remarked that occasions meant to showcase India’s technological maturity should additionally show organisational precision, particularly because the nation positions itself as a worldwide AI hub.
A person on X (formally twitter) wrote, “I’ve attended conferences throughout the US, Center East, and Southeast Asia; but I’ve by no means skilled preparations as poor as in India. The identical occurs at GFF; when the PM arrives, members are handled like second class residents. That’s why I skip GFF on the day he attends. I’m positive many can relate to me who attend GFF. I’ve stopped attending conferences in India; higher is to fly to US, Dubai and Singapore; bets locations to attend conferences.”
As one delegate remarked whereas leaving the venue, “If AI is about fixing real-world issues, the primary check must be operating the summit itself.”
