PM Modi to headline NDTV World Summit 2026 in New Delhi

MUMBAI: When the world order is being reshuffled, the big question is who gets to write the next chapter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will headline the third edition of the NDTV World Summit 2026 on 22 and 23 October in New Delhi, where political leaders, diplomats, technology pioneers, business executives and cultural figures will debate the forces reshaping the world.

Titled ‘A World Between Orders’, the two-day summit will examine a period of geopolitical uncertainty in which established power structures are being challenged, technological change is accelerating and countries are reassessing their economic and strategic priorities. Modi is scheduled to deliver the keynote address, with the proceedings set to be broadcast live across the NDTV Network.

The summit’s agenda spans international diplomacy, artificial intelligence (AI), economic competitiveness, scientific research, business and culture. Its central question is how governments, companies and societies can navigate a world in which decisions in one arena increasingly influence outcomes in another.

The international line-up includes UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Nepal’s Federal Minister of Finance Dr Swarnim Waglé and Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Chaturanga Abeysinghe. Their participation will bring perspectives from countries whose economic and strategic relationships with India are becoming increasingly significant.

Security and geopolitics will also feature prominently. General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA, partner at KKR and chairman of the KKR Global Institute, will bring his experience in military strategy and international affairs to discussions on conflict and technological change. Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, will offer his perspective on the historical and political forces shaping the current global landscape.

The diplomatic contingent includes German Ambassador to India Dr Jasper Wieck, European Union Ambassador to India Jean-Eric Paquet and Australian High Commissioner to India Philip Green. Djalal Khimdjee, CEO of Africa50’s Principal Investment Fund, will add an African perspective on investment, development and international cooperation.

India’s own diplomatic and economic choices will be another major thread. External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar is scheduled to discuss the challenges facing Indian foreign policy, while Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra will bring the monetary and economic perspective to conversations about the country’s growth prospects.

Union Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw will address India’s technological ambitions and the policies shaping its place in global technology supply chains. Semiconductor manufacturing, AI and digital infrastructure are expected to form part of the wider discussion on the country’s economic competitiveness.

The research ecosystem will be represented by Anusandhan National Research Foundation CEO Shivkumar Kalyanaraman and Indian Institute of Science professor Duvvuri Subrahmanyam, bringing scientific capability and innovation into a conversation that extends beyond politics and markets.

AI, meanwhile, is set to be one of the summit’s defining themes. Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearning.AI, managing general partner of AI Fund, and chairman and co-founder of Coursera, will join discussions on the opportunities emerging as AI becomes increasingly embedded in businesses and everyday life.

Futurist and AI specialist Mike Walsh, AI researcher and former Google DeepMind research scientist Alex Turner, and Microsoft’s director of AI and cybersecurity policy Nicholas Butts will broaden the debate. Their perspectives will cover the organisational, societal and strategic implications of technology advancing at a pace that challenges institutions’ ability to understand and govern it.

The summit’s emphasis on AI reflects a wider debate about how innovation can drive productivity and create new opportunities while raising questions about cybersecurity, governance and the future of work. The challenge is not simply how quickly technology develops, but whether businesses, governments and society can keep pace with its consequences.

NDTV managing editor Shiv Aroor said the summit would bring together people whose experience could help make sense of an increasingly complex geopolitical reality. He pointed to the combination of uncertainty and technological disruption, arguing that the range of speakers would allow the event to examine developments from different perspectives and ask questions beyond the daily news cycle.

Business leaders will bring a different set of concerns to the table, from capital allocation and corporate longevity to international expansion and changing consumer behaviour. The line-up includes investor and entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath, Raymond Group chairman and managing director Gautam Singhania, and VFS Global founder and CEO Zubin Karkaria.

Microsoft India and South Asia president Puneet Chandok, Uber APAC’s vice president and regional general manager for Rides Dominic Taylor, and Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis will contribute perspectives on innovation, enterprise and the relationship between Indian ambition and global opportunity.

The programme also features leaders from sectors ranging from energy and aerospace to finance, payments and digital assets. These include Avaada Group’s Vineet Mittal, GE Aerospace’s Vikram Rai, World Gold Council’s Sachin Jain, PhonePe’s Deep Agrawal, Mashreq India’s Tushar Vikram, and CoinSwitch and Lemonn’s Ashish Singhal.

Their participation places industry-specific questions within the summit’s broader examination of global change, including how companies respond to shifting markets, technological disruption and the changing movement of capital across borders.

Beyond policy and business, the event will explore the relationship between technology, creativity, faith and human purpose. Swami Sarvapriyananda, resident minister of the Vedanta Society of New York, and Brahmavihari Swamiji, international spokesperson of BAPS and head of the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi, will bring philosophical and spiritual perspectives to discussions often dominated by technological capability and economic power.

Culture will have a place on the agenda too. Bassist and composer Mohini Dey will bring music into the mix, while Trèsind Studio executive chef and culinary director Himanshu Saini, LSL Capital CEO and creative director Samyukta Nair, and journalist and author Vir Sanghvi will discuss Indian cuisine and its international influence.

The intersection of technology and entertainment will feature through Eline van der Velden, founder and CEO of Particle 6 and creator of AI actor Tilly Norwood. Actor, producer and entrepreneur Kriti Sanon will offer her perspective on contemporary cinema, entrepreneurship and the changing nature of public influence.

Sports will add another dimension to the programme, with athletes Kumkum Mohod, Neeru Dhanda, Lovlina Borgohain, Pranavi Urs, Savita Punia and Neha Goyal set to share their experiences of competing at the highest level, managing pressure and pursuing success on the international stage.

NDTV CEO and editor-in-chief Rahul Kanwal said the summit would examine how developments across technology, economics and national security are increasingly interconnected. He noted that technology decisions can influence both economic competitiveness and national security, while events in one region can reshape opportunities and prospects elsewhere. The aim, he said, is to explore what these connections mean for India and the wider world.

The third edition of the summit will therefore bring together perspectives from government, diplomacy, science, finance, technology, business and culture, with the intention of examining how decisions across these fields are converging to shape the future.

NDTV World Summit 2026 will take place on 22 and 23 October in New Delhi, with live coverage across the NDTV Network. With geopolitical uncertainty and AI-led disruption at the heart of the agenda, the gathering will seek to look beyond the headlines and consider what a world between orders could mean for India’s place in it.