Washington, Feb 13 (IANS) India is “well poised” to become the global leader in AI adoption and could see its GDP growth cross 10 per cent in the next two years if it focuses strongly on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Umesh Sachdev, CEO and co-founder of Uniphore, said ahead of the next week’s India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
“We are at a very interesting point in the AI rollout in the world,” Sachdev told IANS in an exclusive interview. Uniphore serves customers in 20 countries, works with about 2,500 enterprises globally, and counts 200 of the Fortune 500 among its clients.
Headed to India to attend the major global summit, Sachdev identified two major trends shaping the AI landscape. First, “companies and countries are realising that there will not be one size fits all.” Ecosystems and alliances are becoming central. “Creating ecosystems is a big trend that we are seeing,” he said.
Against that backdrop, Sachdev called the India AI Impact Summit “very timely” for India to build alliances “with other countries, alliances with other large companies, startups in the AI application space, in the model space, in the semiconductor space”.
The second trend, he said, is adoption. While the US and China lead in core AI technologies, “if there is one country which is well poised to lead the AI adoption and AI application space, that is India”. With 1.4 billion people, “India has the biggest opportunity of being the adoption leader of AI globally.
On talent, Sachdev said India’s strength goes beyond numbers. “Not only AI talents in terms of masses and numbers, but also talent leadership is something that India is very well poised to do”. He pointed to the high percentage of Indian-origin leaders in major AI companies globally.
Sachdev described 2026 as a turning point. “AI is going to be the economic growth driver for companies and countries in 2026”. He said some firms are already reporting higher earnings because of AI, and GDP growth rates are beginning to rise.
“I won’t be surprised if the US’s GDP gets into the six, maybe even 7 per cent range because of the increased productivity that companies and countries are experiencing because of agent AI,” he said. For India, he was even more bullish. “India is likely to cross 10 per cent in the next 24 months if it keeps focusing on AI adoption very strongly.”
He described the coming years as “an age of abundance” driven by productivity gains. “Productivity, which has been largely flat globally for the last 25, 30 year, is likely to now see a step change because of agent and generative AI,” he said. He rejected fears that AI would destroy jobs, saying, “I actually think more jobs will be created”.
On governance and citizen services, he said AI agents can automate form-filling, government access, and legal and medical services, thereby reducing costs. “The impact on citizens of countries is going to be humongous,” he said.
Sachdev acknowledged challenges. “The one challenge, which is relatively new is geopolitics”. He cited concerns over restrictions, “leading to this big trend of sovereign AI”. He also warned against overregulation. While AI “certainly cannot be left fully unchecked,” excessive regulation could widen the gap between “the haves and the have nots.”
On China, he described a “clear dichotomy”. Developers in Silicon Valley admire Chinese models for performance and cost, but “corporate America just does not want to even talk about Chinese models because of fear of regulation, fear of geopolitics, fear of government action”.
Uniphore, he said, is a “sovereign and open data and AI platform meant for the enterprise” serving 2,500 global customers, including 200 Fortune 500 firms. After announcing a Series F round in October 2025, the company is watching public markets but remains focused on growth.
“This is an exciting time,” he said. “2026 is going to be the year that will turn the corner on AI adoption within large businesses”.
India has been positioning itself as a major AI player through digital public infrastructure, including Aadhaar and other large-scale government platforms. The upcoming India AI Impact Summit aims to showcase policy direction, industry partnerships, and talent strength.
–IANS
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