AI is the Next Big Infrastructure, Says N Chandrasekaran at India-AI Impact Summit 2026

Artificial intelligence is the next major infrastructure that will have a profound impact on society, similar to transformative technologies like steam engines, electricity, and the internet, N Chandrasekaran said on Thursday while addressing the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi.

The Tata Sons chairman emphasised that AI represents a new form of infrastructure that will shape the future of economies and societies.

"Our mission should be to make AI work for every individual and every citizen in this country. We should put the AI tools in the hands of the last person in the country and in fact on the Earth, and that's the mission that we should all work towards," he said.

"A couple of days ago, we requested 1,500 rural women here in Bharat Mandapam, who had no background of computing, no background of digital tools, in a matter of a few hours could learn AI, could build products, could build marketing materials, campaigns, all in front of a global audience, and they did it in four hours," he noted.

Why Does Chandrasekaran Call India a Nation of AI Optimists?

Chandrasekaran said India is a nation of AI optimists, driven by its success in building large scale digital infrastructure.

He pointed out that India has built the largest digital identity system in the world, covering 1.4 billion people, and a digital payments interface that accounts for half of the world's total transactions.

He added that under the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has treated AI as a strategic national capability and is building capabilities across the full technology stack.

"Learning the full stack, from chips to systems to energy and to applications, through Semiconductor India, an India AI mission, and most importantly, the recent reforms such as the Shakti Act for clean energy, we are building AI at scale with trust, resilience, and long-term competitiveness," he said.

He also described AI as a foundational technology that cuts across industries, noting that it learns from data, improves continuously, is not based on fixed rules, and can scale rapidly to drive innovation across sectors.

The India-AI Impact Summit 2026, announced by Modi at the France AI Action Summit, is being held on February 19-20 in New Delhi as the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South, with a focus on inclusive growth, social development and people-centric innovations that protect the planet.

Why Is Tata Sons Planning an EGM for Chandrasekaran’s Reappointment?

Tata Sons is set to convene an extraordinary general meeting after its board formally approves the reappointment of Chandrasekaran as executive chairman for a third term next week, a full year before his current tenure concludes, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The move will require an exception to the group’s retirement policy, which mandates stepping down from non-executive roles at 65.

A similar waiver was granted in 2016 when Ratan Tata returned as chairman following the exit of Cyrus Mistry.

Chandrasekaran, who turns 63 in June, has the backing of Tata Trusts, the majority shareholder of the holding company, which passed a unanimous resolution in October last year supporting his reappointment in an executive capacity, the report said.

A renewed mandate would allow Chandrasekaran to continue steering large scale investments estimated at $120 billion across semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries and Air India.

Chandrasekaran, a TCS veteran, joined the Tata Sons board in October 2016 and became chairman in January 2017, and was granted a second five year term in February 2022.

(With inputs from ANI)