Minister apologises for summit chaos
Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday apologised for the chaos on the first day of the India AI Impact Summit 2026. To address the concerns and issues, a war room is now operating. Issues can be reported and the organisers will make sure that the summit is more smooth and enjoyable.
“The response is phenomenal. The energy is palpable. We can see the organisation is very smooth now. If anybody has faced any problems yesterday, we apologise for that,” Vaishnaw said.
The opening day drew thousands of attendees, including startup founders, global tech representatives, and international delegates. However, heavy footfall led to confusion, long queues, overlapping security checks, and temporary evacuation of some exhibitor stalls ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the expo happening alongside.
Addressing criticism, Vaishnaw said more than 70,000 people attended the summit on Monday. “My entire team is working hard day and night for this summit,” the minister added.
Vaishnaw also sought suggestions from stakeholders to minimise inconvenience. Despite the minister’s apology, confusion prevailed on the second day at what is being billed as the biggest AI summit globally. Amid the confusion on Tuesday, a few reported misplaced or stolen goods. Dhananjay Yadav, CEO of Neo Sapien, took to social media platform to complain about wearables being stolen. Punit Jain, founder of Reskill, said, “An AI Summit that sidelines its own builders?”
Entrepreneur Priyanshu Ratnakar said the summit highlighted “optics over execution”, pointing to long queues, exhibitors being locked out of stalls, patchy Wi-Fi and mobile networks, and repeated registration glitches.
Organisers said corrective measures were taken throughout the day to ease congestion and improve coordination, assuring attendees that operations would be smoother over the remaining days, with continued participation from Big Tech companies and international leaders.
