New Delhi: President Emmanuel Macron opened his address at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi with a traditional greeting and strong praise for India’s digital transformation, stating that the country has achieved what no other nation has managed at such scale.
Illustrating his point with a simple example, Macron referred to the journey of a roadside vendor in Mumbai whose life has been reshaped by access to digital payments. A decade ago, he said, many small vendors lacked formal identification, bank accounts or access to financial systems. Today, that same individual can accept payments instantly through a mobile phone. Macron described this shift not merely as a technological development but as a deeper societal transformation.
Addressing a five day gathering of global AI industry leaders, innovators and policymakers, he commended India for rapidly adopting emerging technologies while ensuring they remain accessible to ordinary citizens. He highlighted the country’s creation of a digital identity system that covers over 1.4 billion people, a payment platform processing nearly 20 billion transactions each month, and a digital health framework that has issued around 500 million health IDs.
Macron referred to this integrated digital public infrastructure as the India Stack Open Interoperable Sovereign, calling it a model that reflects scale, openness and sovereignty. He said such systems demonstrate how technology can be democratised and deployed for widespread public benefit.
Speaking in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the French leader noted that the world is entering a period of rapid acceleration in artificial intelligence and digital innovation. He suggested that India’s approach offers valuable lessons for nations seeking to combine technological advancement with inclusive growth and public empowerment.
