Building Trusted AI at Scale Cities Startups & Digital Sovereignty – Keynote Vijay Shekar Sharma Paytm
20 Feb 2026 13:00h - 14:00h
Building Trusted AI at Scale Cities Startups & Digital Sovereignty – Keynote Vijay Shekar Sharma Paytm
Summary
In his keynote, Vijay Shekhar Sharma declared that India has become the global hub for artificial intelligence talent, attributing this concentration to the country’s leadership and ecosystem [2-5]. He praised the Indian government, especially the Prime Minister, for fostering AI enthusiasm much as it did for Startup India a decade earlier [7-9]. Sharma noted that most people already interact with AI daily through personal agents or co-pilots, and that this usage can become addictive [11-15]. He illustrated widespread adoption by recounting his early QR-code initiative, where even a household helper in Aligarh could use Paytm after a simple photo, demonstrating how technology spreads to the common man [17-23]. According to Sharma, by 2025 AI was largely an individual experience, but from 2026 onward it will be embedded in businesses to solve problems previously considered unsolvable [28-31]. He argued that AI will transform financial services by improving credit assessment, thereby extending wealth creation to previously unserved populations [32-36]. Similar breakthroughs are expected in agriculture and livestock, where AI-driven solutions developed in India could address global challenges [36]. Sharma emphasized that India must build its own foundation models, not merely adopt foreign ones, and highlighted the success of his fellow entrepreneur Sarvam in this effort [36]. He described the upcoming “demographic technology dividend,” where the country’s young population will both create and consume AI engines tailored to diverse use cases [37-40]. Rather than focusing solely on generic language models, Sharma advocated developing sector-specific engines-such as for call-centers that could evolve into remote healthcare providers [42-49][58-59]. He warned that AI will not simply eliminate jobs but will generate abundance, urging stakeholders to ride the wave instead of being victimized by it [59]. Concluding, Sharma called the audience to join the AI revolution, asserting that India is now the world’s AI “center of gravity” [60-65]. He ended with a rallying cry that collective participation will reshape how India is perceived globally [63-68].
Keypoints
Major discussion points
– India’s AI leadership and demographic advantage – Sharma repeatedly stresses that the world’s AI talent is concentrated in India, that the country’s “demographic dividend” will become a “demographic technology dividend,” and that India is the “center of gravity of AI.” [2-7][60-64]
– AI as a catalyst for financial inclusion and sectoral transformation – He explains how AI can deepen credit access, make financial services reach every corner, and extend to agriculture, livestock and other industries, turning local solutions into global ones. [32-36]
– Building indigenous foundation models and specialized AI agents – The speaker argues that India must develop its own foundation models, LLMs and “engines” (agents) rather than only using foreign models, positioning these as the basis for sector-specific AI applications. [42-49]
– AI will create abundance, not just job loss, and a call to join the AI revolution – Sharma contends that AI will enable new services (e.g., call-center-to-health-care) and generate “AI-led abundance.” He urges the nation to “ride the wave” and collectively “join the revolution.” [59][61-68]
Overall purpose / goal
The discussion is a rallying speech aimed at inspiring Indian entrepreneurs, policymakers, and the broader public to embrace AI, invest in home-grown models and sector-specific solutions, and position India as the world’s premier AI hub that can solve both domestic and global challenges.
Overall tone
The tone is consistently enthusiastic and patriotic, moving from celebratory praise of India’s current AI stature, to an optimistic vision of transformative impact across industries, to a persuasive call-to-action urging collective participation. While the speech briefly acknowledges potential concerns about job displacement, it quickly reframes them as opportunities for abundance, maintaining an upbeat, rally-like momentum throughout.
Speakers
– Vijay Shekhar Sharma
– Role/Title:
– Area of Expertise:
– Speaker 1
– Role/Title: Event host / moderator (inferred) [S3][S5]
– Area of Expertise:
Additional speakers:
– None
Vijay Shekhar Sharma opened his keynote by echoing the emcee’s welcome and declaring India the global hub of artificial-intelligence talent, praising the host nation’s leadership and the Prime Minister’s vision for AI as a new “Startup India” drive that is reshaping the country’s future [1-5][60-64].
He then noted that most people already interact with AI through personal agents or co-pilots, and that this everyday convenience can become “addictive” as users grow accustomed to the technology [11-15].
Illustrating rapid mass adoption, Sharma recalled pitching QR-code payments to a skeptical government official during the demonetisation era; he later showed that even his house-help in Aligarh could complete a Paytm transaction simply by photographing a QR code, proving that the common man could grasp the system and that the service now reaches every corner of the country [17-23].
Turning to the future, he marked 2026 as a turning point when AI will move from an individual, experiential tool to a core capability embedded in businesses, emphasizing that AI’s utility will extend beyond chat or photo editing to power entire industries [26-28][28-31].
In the financial-services sector, Sharma argued that AI can handle the “corner cases” that traditional credit-risk models miss, enabling more inclusive lending and turning the smartphone-enabled financial system into a truly inclusive one [32-35].
He extended this vision to agriculture and livestock, citing a recent discussion between Nandan Sir and the Prime Minister about AI-driven cattle-health monitoring and suggesting that similar AI applications could address crops, farm machinery and broader agrarian challenges [36-38].
Central to realising these ambitions, he likened foundation models to engines and sector-specific AI applications to vehicles, arguing that India must build its own “engines” (large-language models) and then deploy them across finance, agriculture, healthcare, etc., rather than merely importing foreign models [42-49].
Linking this technical agenda to the country’s youthful population, Sharma coined the term “demographic-technology dividend,” asserting that India’s demographic advantage will both generate and consume AI engines, turning the traditional demographic dividend into a catalyst for rapid AI diffusion and economic growth [37-40].
Among sector-specific use cases, he described how call-centres could evolve into remote healthcare providers: AI agents would manage enquiries, track health metrics and enable human oversight, creating AI-led abundance rather than merely displacing jobs [58-59].
Reflecting on his own entrepreneurial journey, Sharma compared the current AI disruption to the 2010 shift from feature-phone value-added services to smartphones, warning that firms that fail to adapt risk obsolescence while those that embrace AI can extend services far beyond current expectations [59-60].
He invoked the wisdom of the Gita, noting that “change is the only constant” and asserting that India will not only embrace AI change but also lead it [55-57].
Concluding, Sharma reiterated that India is now the “centre of gravity of AI,” urging government, startups, academia and citizens to join the AI revolution; collective participation will cement India’s leadership and reshape global perceptions of the nation, ending with a rallying chant that “we are here” and a thank-you to the audience [60-68].
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma.
Wow. First of all, I do believe that everybody who is an Indian must be very proud that all the AI people in the world are in one city and one country. For that, we need to clap for this event’s host. And I think this is the power of India, my friend. I don’t have to say this. Everybody who is somebody in AI is right now in this country. Our Prime Minister has been able to bring the excitement of AI. Just like 10 years back, he was able to do it for Startup India. So from the Startup India to the AI India, once again for our Honorable Prime Minister this time, guys. I don’t have to tell you how the powerful capability of AI all of us have experienced.
Many of you must be using a personal agent in every other day. And if not agent, you must be using a co -pilot. You must be asking questions to him. And the beauty is that… But the more you use it, the more it becomes addictive. It is where the technology is. When we launched the QR code, I still remember, I went to the government and I had a discussion with them that this is a matter of demonetization, that this can be paid in this way. So the person with whom I was talking, he asked me, do you think the common man will understand what to do? So I said, sir, I went to Aligarh and my house help said, brother, we also do Paytm.
So I asked, how do you do it? He said, you have to take a photo of it from Paytm. And when I told him, I said, sir, when a common man understood how to do Paytm, then this publicity has now become confirmed in the world. And now today, in every nook and corner of the country, we can see the payments reaching and completing itself. And now this takes us to the next milestone, where every one of us who uses it. Every smartphone can now use power of AI. Now, I don’t have to tell this once again. The capabilities that we will harness over the period will not be just limited by the. chat or let’s say the photo you are making or editing something or picking up a message from WhatsApp, it will go towards the industry.
So till 2025, AI was more of an individual experiential play, if you will. You know, you were trying to find out use case and the problem answers that you fundamentally believe that it will be. But 2026 begins with a commitment and confidence that AI will bring the capability in the business and the work and the problem that we typically would not have assumed that would be solved. And let me say this. Typically, I come from financial service industry and I fundamentally believe access to credit creates the wealth. But access to credit requires a lot of insights and abilities to confirm whether this money will come back or not. Many rules and regulations are allowing us to expand the reach of credit.
But by the capability of AI, we will be able to take care of corner cases where it should not go or it should go. So people will become more financially inclusive than ever before. as you are knowing the smartphone gave access to the financial system to the every nook and corner of the country now this time financial institutions will serve those customers so from access to the rich ability of financial system will reach financial systems bring wealth to the country bring access bringing access to the credit to the last person brings wealth to the person there and that is what i believe ai will be able to do let’s say in financial system you could talk about agriculture you could talk about husbandry i remember the conversation between nandan sir and prime minister sir yesterday was happening about let’s say how could you use the power of ability of cattle to use in ai and then a mull case was talked about now imagine the same thing could be done even for machines even for plants even for agriculture the capability of ai that we want to use will make it possible for us to build it in india for the problem and solution that we build for india and this time we while we are solving the problems here we will not solve a local problem we will solve a global problem because the capability of indians have been proven that we can make world -class technology the technology that falls at an order of magnitude scale and abilities that are globally renowned and capable once again i’m going to say that that this is not about foundation model only important a foundation model is a horizontal capable model i don’t mind saying that we must must and for sure have a foundation model in india all because we have a capability and resources to do it and i’m very proud that my fellow entrepreneur sarvam has done the job and i do believe that is an acknowledgement that we can build it it’s not something rocket science it’s not something that we cannot build it but the point is not about just building a foundation model point is about building the models that solve for us solve for global south solve for global problems and those models and the requirement of those models to bring in everyday life can only happen in a country where the demographic difference between the two countries is very important and i think that is the key to evidence belongs to us young people, if I tell them to use it, with whom you will be able to do it, your capability will increase, they will experience it.
So the first time our demographic dividend will also become the demographic technology dividend, if you will. The capability of our young, capability and ability and intent of our young will aid to the propagation of AI unlike ever before. It is not about just using, let’s say, a messaging platform or a payment platform. It is about adding the capability in your everyday life. And that is rare and possible only in this country. Again, there is a question of, for me, that will you build LLM models or will you build agents on top of it? I’m sure all of us have understood that models are the foundation and the, let’s say, on the top of it an agent.
It’s like asking, will you build vehicles or will you build engines? It’s not like when Daimler Benz made an engine, India didn’t make it and no other country made it. We will also make our engines. Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will different, what will be the use?
Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be small, big, different, different, what will be the use? Our engines will be and many more fold than ever before imagine so right now what has happened in the world is that someone has made an engine which is called ICE and you are saying that can you make an engine, yes we can make an engine because we know the nuances of it but what is more important than that is the use case of that engine using it to make a passenger vehicle, using it to make a bus using it to make a truck, using it to make a trailer that is the use case the world wants to see, India not only will be the use case capital of the world but India will also be the capital of number of LLMs that India will build India will build more number of LLMs for the section of usage and ability of usage than ever before the fight is not about just the foundation model, fight is about AI that works for a sector, works for a segment and solves the problem of an agent for example like call center, call center, call center is a talked about thing that we will let’s say what will happen to the jobs of call centers I don’t mind saying that call center as a literally job may or may not be challenged yes but the capability is immense if we can solve the call of someone else’s country why can’t we solve the healthcare problem of someone else’s country if imagine a European there is there is a old age in Europe and you need to solve for their health care tracking and conditioning and requirements so a call center can evolve to become a healthcare provider because they can track the local knowledge of that country in the newest of that country and remotely somebody can humanly look at it and confirm yes you should take that action and that capability can only happen in a country that is embracing the change and embracing the technology it is not a question of whether there will be AI led job reduction it is rather a question of there will be AI led abundance and are you on the riding the wave or are you getting victimized on the wave I remember 2010 when this country had feature force I remember the business model that I used to run was feature phone led value added services business ringtone ringback tone many of you might have been the customer and you remember that and I want to tell you one thing I was going for IPO in 2010 and the challenge was that what will happen to the future forward because the smartphone I had seen in US and I was uncomfortable that we should do an IPO at that point of time because I was like the business model is going to change and the power of capability of smartphone was not about that they will be PCOS CDA and that is the power of AI that you should look at it and that is the power of AI that you should look at it and that is the power of AI that you should look at it and that is the power of AI that you should look at it and that is the capability that Indians will look at it some of us will embrace it as a ability and capability that we can extend and deliver even further set of services capabilities that are not yet seen and reached within ourselves and some of us will feel that we are victim of the capability this machine gives and that is the change my friend always continuous in the world and I think the India and the land of Gita, which has told that change is the only constant in the world, will not only embrace it and lead it, but it will lead it from the front and show the world the ability and capabilities of AI that will show up.
So ladies and gentlemen, I’m very proud to be in the country where we today are talking and the center of universe of AI gravity is. And from here onwards, we will, instead of looking at AI as a challenger to any problem that we see or any opportunity that we today yield, but to a larger opportunity and larger capability that India will make and all Indian will make India proud. So with this, I again and again say the ability of India can only be underestimated when we all together join our hands and join in the revolution. So I would say this once again, join the revolution and change the way India is perceived in the world.
And today, our Honorable Prime Minister has shown that the center of gravity of AI is India. We are here. We are here. We are here. We are here. We are here. We are here. Thank you so much, guys.
“Most people already interact with AI through personal agents or co‑pilots, and the more they use it, the more it becomes addictive.”
The speaker’s statement matches the wording in the knowledge base, which notes that users employ personal agents or co-pilots and that increased use can become addictive [S8].
“Sharma launched QR‑code payments during the demonetisation era and demonstrated that even his house‑help in Aligarh could complete a Paytm transaction by photographing a QR code, showing mass‑market adoption.”
The knowledge base confirms that Sharma discussed the launch of QR-code payments, but it does not mention the house-help anecdote; the QR-code launch detail provides supporting context [S8].
“2026 will be a turning point when AI shifts from an individual, experiential tool to a core capability embedded in businesses and entire industries.”
A source explicitly frames 2026 as a year when the conversation around AI moves from surprise to stewardship and broader industry impact, confirming the claim [S59].
“AI can handle the “corner cases” that traditional credit‑risk models miss, enabling more inclusive lending and turning the smartphone‑enabled financial system into a truly inclusive one.”
While the knowledge base does not use the phrase “corner cases,” it discusses AI as a game-changer in financial services and notes banks will continue core functions while transforming delivery, providing contextual support for the inclusive-lending narrative [S2] and [S63].
“AI‑driven cattle‑health monitoring and broader AI applications for crops, farm machinery, and agrarian challenges are being discussed at the highest level.”
The knowledge base cites an AI-powered robot (SwagBot) for cattle farming and references AI initiatives in agriculture, confirming the existence of AI projects in livestock and crop sectors [S64] and [S11].
“India’s youthful population creates a “demographic‑technology dividend,” turning the demographic advantage into a catalyst for rapid AI diffusion and economic growth.”
Multiple sources highlight India’s young, digitally native population as a driver of both creation and consumption of AI technologies, aligning with the speaker’s coined term [S39] and [S66].
The discussion shows a clear, though limited, consensus that India is emerging as the global centre for AI, framed by the opening welcome and reinforced throughout Sharma’s remarks. Apart from this shared narrative, there is little substantive overlap on other themes such as financial inclusion, agriculture, or AI‑led abundance, which remain the domain of Sharma’s individual arguments.
Low to moderate – agreement is confined to the overarching claim of India’s AI leadership, implying a unified national narrative but limited convergence on policy‑specific or sector‑specific issues.
The transcript contains only two speakers: Speaker 1, who delivers a brief welcome ([1]), and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who presents a continuous monologue covering many themes ([2-68]). No opposing statements or contrasting viewpoints are expressed between the speakers; Sharma does not directly address or contradict the welcome, and Speaker 1 does not raise any substantive claim. Consequently, there are no identifiable disagreement points, no partial agreements with differing approaches, and no unexpected areas of conflict.
Minimal – the interaction is essentially a one‑sided presentation, so disagreement does not influence the discussion of any of the listed topics.
The discussion, though delivered as a single‑speaker monologue, is structured around several pivotal insights that progressively broadened its scope—from personal AI experiences to national strategy, socioeconomic impact, indigenous model development, and a reframing of automation fears. Each key comment acted as a turning point, redirecting focus to new themes and deepening the narrative, ultimately culminating in a unifying call to action that sought to galvanize India’s AI community and position the country as a global AI leader.
Disclaimer: This is not an official session record. DiploAI generates these resources from audiovisual recordings, and they are presented as-is, including potential errors. Due to logistical challenges, such as discrepancies in audio/video or transcripts, names may be misspelled. We strive for accuracy to the best of our ability.
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