~India’s AI-led development innovations took centre stage at the fifth India Day @ UNGA, highlighting scalable solutions, AI, health, climate action and Global South cooperation.
New York / Mumbai, Sept 29 (VNI): India’s development innovations, artificial intelligence (AI), digital public infrastructure and scalable solutions for inclusive growth took centre stage at the fifth edition of ‘India Day @ UNGA’, held during the 81st United Nations General Assembly week, with discussions focusing on how India’s successful development models can be adapted, scaled and shared across the Global South and beyond.
Reliance Foundation, the United Nations in India and the Observer Research Foundation convened the fifth edition of India Day @ UNGA on September 24, 2026, bringing together governments, multilateral institutions, civil society and the private sector to explore pathways for accelerating sustainable development and making AI work at population scale. The programme featured sessions on development innovations, AI, climate action, health, digital public infrastructure, women-led development and innovative partnerships.
The high-level ministerial session, ‘Ruptures & Ramparts: Building Bridges for a Changing World’, brought together S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India; Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Jamaica; Melvin Bouva, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and Cooperation, Suriname; Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ghana; and Celeste Connors, President and Chief Executive, East-West Center, USA. The discussion examined how innovation, technology, finance and partnerships could shape a new development compact amid geopolitical, climate and technological changes.
S Jaishankar said the UN remains central to the international system and noted that BRICS has sought to strengthen the UN system by highlighting issues including sustainability and cooperation. Ghanaian Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa emphasised the need for countries to engage as equal partners and pursue arrangements that enable them to derive the best possible outcomes from international cooperation.
Rohit Kansal, Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of India, said the key message was not merely about numbers but about the infrastructure India has built to democratise access and enable solutions at population scale. He said humans need not learn the language of AI, but AI should learn the language of humans.
Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, highlighted the need to integrate infrastructure and technology to build a healthier future, while Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India, stressed the potential of AI to make energy infrastructure more resilient and improve the efficiency of distribution companies.
B Srinivasan, Executive Lead, Reliance Foundation, said the challenges facing the world are increasingly complex and require cooperation and collaboration on a scale larger than ever before, with empathy and soft power playing a greater role in delivering development.
Stefan Priesner, United Nations Resident Coordinator, India, said four years remain until 2030 and that the period is long enough for solutions proven in India to travel to other parts of the world. Vishal Harsh, Deputy Consul General, Consulate General of India, said India’s experience offers an important perspective to countries seeking development solutions, particularly as AI emerges as a major opportunity for countries across the Global South.
Samir Saran, President, Observer Research Foundation, said India Day is centred on serving people and examining how technology, innovation, partnerships, philanthropy and international institutions can work together to serve humanity.
Four thematic sessions during the day covered artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, women-led development, health and the future of inclusive growth. AI emerged as a connecting theme across discussions on development challenges, digital public infrastructure, health and education systems, and the delivery of more accessible, responsive and impactful solutions.
The session ‘Beyond 2030: Rewiring Development for an Age of Intelligence, Inclusion and Instability’ examined geopolitical, climate, demographic and technological shifts. ‘Women, Children and Youth: Building Healthier Futures for the Next Billion’ focused on public systems, community-led delivery, technology and partnerships for health, education and economic opportunities.
‘The AI Promise: Diffusion at Population Scale’ explored the role of AI across languages, sectors, institutions and public-service delivery systems in India and the Global South, while ‘Rules of Engagement: AI Governance for a Changing World’ examined AI regulation, data governance, institutional capacity and responsible deployment.
The programme also launched the fifth publication in the India Day @ UNGA series, When Silicon Meets the Soil: India’s AI Revolution, which presents India’s experience with artificial intelligence across 18 chapters and examines the country’s positioning as a major AI use-case ecosystem.
Beyond the discussions, India Day @ UNGA 2026 sought to present models of cooperation aimed at advancing the social development agenda for the Global South and the wider world, with AI, innovation, partnerships and scalable development solutions emerging as key themes. VNI NEWS, India Day @ UNGA 2026, AI-led development, Artificial Intelligence, UNGA 2026, Reliance Foundation, United Nations India, Observer Research Foundation, Global South, digital public infrastructure, AI governance, sustainable development, India AI revolution
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Focus Keywords: India AI development innovations, India Day @ UNGA 2026, AI for Global South, India AI revolution, sustainable development, AI governance, digital public infrastructure