Delegates troubled by overcrowding mismanagement at India AI Summit:Stood in queues for hours, some had their belongings stolen; Ashwini Vaishnaw apologises

The Central Government has apologised for the mismanagement on the first day of the ‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ being held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on February 17 that a much larger crowd than expected gathered on the first day of the summit, which caused inconvenience to people. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to people. On Monday, the first day of the summit, thousands of startup founders, tech experts, and foreign delegates arrived. Long queues formed at entry points due to heavy crowds and tight security. Representatives and delegates from global tech companies had to wait for hours. Over 70,000 people arrived, situation worsened due to heavy crowds Speaking at a press conference on the second day of the summit, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that this is the world’s largest AI summit. More than 70,000 people attended the event on the first day itself. The arrangements are fine now, but if anyone faced trouble yesterday, we apologize for that. He said that the government is ready for suggestions and a ‘war room’ has been created to improve the experience which is working 24 hours. A ‘war room’ is a control center from where real-time monitoring of the entire venue is done. Founder’s claim – Wearables stolen amid security cordon Questions also raised on connectivity and poor communication Reskill founder Puneet Jain and entrepreneur Priyanshu Ratnakar raised questions about management. They said that poor Wi-Fi, mobile network issues and repeated registration problems ruined the experience. The founders said that due to VIP movement, those who are building the country’s AI future were made to stand outside for hours. Congress says – Country’s image ruined in Modi’s ‘reel’ pursuit Congress has made a post about the mismanagement at the summit. It states: The AI summit is happening in Delhi, but the conditions there are very terrible. Founders and exhibitors are extremely troubled by the mismanagement at the summit. They say that the main hall was emptied for PM Modi’s arrival and exhibitors were removed from their paid stalls. Additionally, people faced several problems at the summit such as: All this happened because Narendra Modi arrived with his entourage on the first day of the AI Summit to get photos taken and make reels. This shows Modi is only concerned about polishing his image. He doesn’t care about the country’s image being damaged globally. PM Modi inaugurates AI Impact Summit Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated one of the world’s largest technology events ‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ on February 16. This event will run until February 20 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Along with the summit, ‘India AI Impact Expo 2026’ has also been organized. Companies from around the world have presented their latest AI solutions at the expo. Here, common people can see how AI works in real life and what changes AI will bring in areas like farming, health and education in the future. Tech giants like Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman are also participating in the event.