Six months ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was battling rhetorical abuse from US President Donald Trump, attempting to retake control of Pakistan following an armed battle, and dealing with concerns about the future of his economy.

Two months into the new year, he has negotiated significant trade agreements with the US and the EU, will host a number of foreign leaders who wish to finalize their own agreements in the upcoming weeks, is enjoying a surge in public support after important state elections, and his top officials anticipate economic growth to surpass the government's own projections.

When PM Modi takes the stage at a high-profile artificial intelligence event in New Delhi this week, he will have the chance to highlight both India's aspirations for the world and his personal comeback. More than a dozen heads of state, including those from France and Brazil, as well as some of the most powerful figures in the tech industry, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc., and Dario Amodei of Anthropic PBC, will be present at the India AI Impact Summit.
PM Modi sees the summit as an opportunity to solidify his position in the AI race and draw attention to the nation as it attempts to recover from a difficult year.PM Modi, who is over two years into his third term, wants to reestablish India as a growing economic force and seek a political reset.
Swaran Singh, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of International Studies in New Delhi, stated that the AI conference "offers a great stage for the prime minister to project his image as a developer or a modernizer - someone who has a vision of future for India." "And he's good at utilizing such opportunities."
PM Modi seemed like he was in a bad position for a large portion of last year. An armed conflict in May brought tensions with Pakistan, a neighbor with nuclear weapons, to a peak.

Trump made things more confusing by saying he put an end to the war, a remark that Pakistan hailed but PM Modi and his officials vehemently denied. A few months later, Trump attacked India for its trade restrictions and connections to Russia, imposing 50% tariffs on Indian imports.
Greater Bonds
By 2026, it seems that India and the US are once again on the same page. Earlier this month, Trump lowered duties on Indian imports to 18 percent, which is less than most of its Asian counterparts. Additionally, PM Modi is redoubling his attempts to improve commercial relations with neighboring nations: After nearly 20 years of negotiations, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, signed a free trade agreement with India in January.

Additionally, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to put an end to the diplomatic situation brought on by New Delhi's purported involvement in the 2023 murder of a Sikh activist in that nation. Carney is scheduled to travel to India in the upcoming weeks in an attempt to revive a trade agreement that has been stalled by Trump's tariffs. An Indian man pled guilty to his role in a New York court, effectively ending the case of a separate murder plot of a Sikh activist in the US.
"The business community considers him to have come out with a big win," according to Pranav Pai, founding partner at Bangalore-based venture company 3One4 Capital, which has invested in startups, notably internet companies, in light of the difficulties PM Modi encountered last year.

As a safeguard against Trump's tariffs, Prime Minister Modi has taken steps to increase domestic spending and strengthen support among voters. He implemented long-awaited reforms, such as a comprehensive revamp of the consumption tax and new labor laws. Though officials are hopeful the economy may even surpass that pace now that the US trade agreement has been reached, the government is projecting growth of up to 7.2% in the fiscal year beginning April 1.
Last year, PM Modi also scored decisive wins in Delhi and Bihar's important regional elections. This stands in sharp contrast to his 2024 national election defeat, in which he was unable to win a majority in the parliament for the first time since he assumed government.

The AI conference provides the Indian leader with an opportunity to highlight the nation's large, tech-savvy populace and strong technical capabilities as potential assets that could help it win the next stage of the global AI competition.
Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have made over $50 billion in new investments in India, highlighting the nation's growing prominence as a major growth market for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and online retail. Due to India's unparalleled magnitude and comparatively lenient regulatory environment, companies like OpenAI and Google are providing their AI helpers to users there for free. The fact that China, one of the most promising internet markets in the world, is essentially closed off to US Big Tech adds to India's allure.

According to S. Krishnan, secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which is assisting in the summit's organization, "India's workforce gives the country a long-term structural strength that many advanced economies cannot replicate," the Indian Express newspaper reported recently.
He continued by saying that nations in Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East who are dealing with comparable issues are showing interest in the AI tools that Indian companies are developing, which range from digital tutors and governance platforms to health diagnostics and agricultural advising systems that serve millions of people.Nidhi Singh, a senior research analyst at Carnegie India, stated that PM Modi hopes to concentrate on the Global South through this gathering. "This in itself will put India on an elevated platform, cementing Modi as the voice of the developing world."

AI Dangers
AI presents serious economic dangers for India as well, especially given its growing worker force. Due to growing investor concerns that AI may upend their established business models, software businesses with millions of employees, such as Infosys Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., have lost popularity. This month, concerns about automation have affected IT companies, causing the Nifty IT Index to post its worst week since April.
As millions of young people join the workforce every year, India is already having difficulty creating enough jobs to accommodate them. much though India's development rate is the fastest in the world, experts say it needs to accelerate much more to create enough jobs for the most populated country in the world.

According to Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, who penned a biography of the prime minister, "Modi is in a strong position for now, but much will depend on the pushback from those who are not benefiting in the current economy." "The economy and unemployment are his biggest challenges."