Last Updated:July 22, 2026, 14:25 IST

Here’s a look at 5 Indian AI leaders shaping where the country’s Artificial Intelligence story goes in 2026.

Here’s a look at 5 Indian leaders who are shaping AI in 2026.

India’s AI story has flipped; it’s no longer just about adopting the technology; it’s about building it. Homegrown foundation models are taking shape, global giants are weaving AI into everyday business, startups are going AI-native from day one, and institutions are scrambling to build the talent pipeline to keep up. Behind all of it are people turning ambition into something real.

Here’s a look at 5 Indian AI leaders shaping where the country’s Artificial Intelligence story goes in 2026.

Puneet Chandok, President, Microsoft India & South Asia

Piloting AI is easy; scaling it across an enterprise is the hard part. That’s the transition Puneet Chandok has led at Microsoft India, expanding generative AI adoption across industries while pouring resources into cloud infrastructure and large-scale developer skilling. It’s the groundwork that lets ambition turn into results at scale.

Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President and Head, Meta India

Meta’s business in India has emerged as a testing ground for AI-powered tools used by businesses, creators and developers on a daily basis, from ad targeting to content generation. Sandhya Devanathan has led this shift, bringing AI more deeply into the way people connect and transact on the platform.

Mohit Joshi, Managing Director and CEO, Tech Mahindra

As businesses rethink their operations in an AI-first world, Mohit Joshi is leading Tech Mahindra’s efforts to assist them in adapting to this shift. He is helping organisations to adopt intelligent technologies with a focus on measurable business impact through the application of AI across enterprise solutions, consulting and digital engineering services.

Ankush Sabharwal, Founder, BharatGPT

English-first models don’t work well across India’s languages and dialects, that’s the problem Ankush Sabharwal set out to fix. BharatGPT is his answer: indigenous LLMs and multilingual tools built specifically for Indian users, sectors, and scripts.

Vidit Aatrey, Founder and CEO, Meesho

Vidit Aatrey has been a proponent of AI across all aspects of Meesho – customer experience, seller enablement, logistics, or platform efficiency. One of India’s largest e-commerce companies, the app keeps on building AI into its business, showing how the technology can drive scale and add value for both consumers and entrepreneurs.

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