The era of "AI tourism" is dead. India’s top tech minds and policymakers signaled a shift toward Agentic AI and fiscal accountability. With leaders from MeitY, Maersk and Birlasoft weighing in, the narrative has moved from experimental pilots to the "hidden costs" of legacy integration.
FE AICONIC Summit & Awards 2026
The 1st Edition of the FE AICONIC Summit & Awards brought together leading policymakers, industry experts, and technology leaders to deliberate on the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) across industries. The summit underscored a clear shift in the AI narrative from experimentation and pilot projects to scalable implementation, measurable ROI, and responsible adoption.
Delivering the keynote address, Abhishek Singh, DG, NIC & Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, emphasised the need to transition from dialogue to execution. “Summits have set the direction, now it’s time to walk the talk. The real value of AI will come from building agentic systems, driving transformation, and integrating with legacy infrastructure to create tangible impact,” he said.
A central theme across discussions was the challenge of defining and measuring AI success.
Ankur Lal Garg, EVP, India & Interim EVP, Global Programs, Evidence Action, stressed the importance of clarity: “Define success at the outset, otherwise organisations risk measuring activity instead of outcomes and may not know when to stop.”
Rahul Agarwalla, Managing Partner, SenseAI Ventures, highlighted the realities of deployment: “AI in production is unpredictable, real-world data is messy and outcomes aren’t binary.”
For large enterprises, AI is becoming a necessity rather than a choice. Resham Sahi, SVP – Technology & Head, Maersk Technology Center, Bangalore, A. P. Moller-Maersk, noted: “AI isn’t just about ROI, it’s about survival. Even a 2% efficiency gain can translate into significant savings at scale.”
While AI promises efficiency, speakers cautioned against overlooking underlying complexities. Anurag Mishra, Director – FINCAS, EDME Insurance Brokers, said: “AI brings hidden costs, regulation, risk, and liability that organisations must account for.”
Praveen Sharma, CEO, REA India (Housing.com), added: “AI doesn’t replace legacy systems overnight. Running both together increases operational and software costs.”
AI’s role in enhancing customer experience was widely discussed. Sachin Dutta, COO, Canara HSBC Life Insurance, emphasised: “Customers want frictionless, end-to-end experiences. AI can reduce turnaround time and improve efficiency.”
Abhishek Gupta, SVP & Head – Product & Tech, HomeLane, highlighted the evolving nature of personalisation: “Personalisation isn’t just about responses, it’s about discovering intent, especially when customers don’t know what they want.”
Speakers highlighted that scaling AI requires deeper integration and organisational alignment. Sanjeev Gupta, Head – GST Technology, Wayfair India, said: “AI success isn’t in pilots, it’s in adoption and integration.”
Vinod Sivarama Krishnan, VP & Head – IT, Birlasoft, noted: “At scale, AI becomes part of the cost structure and must be optimised.”
Achin K Sharma, VP – IT, Movin India, added: “AI cannot be treated as just an IT project; it requires alignment across people, processes, and technology.”
The importance of data quality and ethical considerations emerged as critical pillars. Sushil Meher, CIO, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, stated: “AI is only as good as the data behind it. Even small gaps in data quality can impact outcomes.”
Vivek Iyer, Managing Director, D2L India, added: “AI in education is evolving rapidly, but the pace of adoption needs to accelerate.”
The summit also explored the evolving relationship between humans and AI. Amit Pradhan, VP – IT & CIO, Dixon Technologies, said: “AI can generate outputs, but validation and strong fundamentals remain essential.”
Dipankar Mukherjee, Co-Founder & CEO, Studio Blo, emphasised: “AI can democratize creativity, but ethics lies with creators.”
AI’s role in transforming citizen services was also highlighted. Golok Kumar Simli, President – Technology & Innovation, BLS International, noted: “AI can enable seamless, transparent, and citizen-first public service delivery.”
The FE AICONIC Summit & Awards 2026 underscored that AI is entering a critical phase where success will depend on scalability, accountability, and responsible deployment.
As organisations move beyond experimentation, the focus is clear: delivering real business impact while ensuring ethical, sustainable, and well-governed AI adoption.
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