"Design and develop in India. Deliver to the world. Deliver to humanity," Modi told a gathering of some world leaders, technology executives and policymakers at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.
Modi's remarks came as India — one of the fastest-growing digital markets — seeks to leverage its experience in building large-scale digital public infrastructure and to present itself as a cost-effective hub for AI innovation.
The summit was also addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron, Microsoft president Brad Smith, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who called for a $3 billion fund to help poorer countries build basic AI capacity, including skills, data access and affordable computing power.
"The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries, or left to the whims of a few billionaires," Guterres said, stressing that AI must "belong to everyone."
India is using the summit to position itself as a bridge between advanced economies and the Global South. Indian officials cite the country's digital ID and online payments systems as a model for deploying AI at low cost, particularly in developing countries.
"We must democratise AI. It must become a tool for inclusion and empowerment, particularly for the Global South," Modi said.
He later separately met tech leaders, many of whom laid out their investing plans in India.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will collaborate with India's Tata Group on AI initiatives, including the development of data centre infrastructure in the country.
"We believe the democratisation of AI is the only fair and safe path forward," Altman said at the meeting.
With nearly 1 billion internet users, India has become a key market for global technology companies expanding their AI businesses.
Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all pledged huge-multi-billion dollar investments into India.
The country, however, lags in developing its own large-scale AI model like US-based OpenAI or China's DeepSeek, highlighting challenges such as limited access to advanced semiconductor chips, data centres and hundreds of local languages to learn from.
The summit opened on Monday with organisational glitches, as attendees and exhibitors reported long lines and delays, and some complained on social media that personal belongings and display items had been stolen. Organisers later said the items were recovered.
Problems resurfaced Wednesday when a private Indian university was expelled after a staff member showcased a commercially available Chinese-made robotic dog while claiming it as the institution's own innovation.
The setbacks continued Thursday when Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates withdrew from a scheduled keynote address. No reason was given, though the Gates Foundation said the move was intended "to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit's key priorities."
Gates is facing questions over his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
