ISLAMABAD, Feb 17 (APP): The much-publicised India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi began in complete disarray on its very first day, with massive overcrowding, hours-long queues, suffocating crowds and alarming security lapses turning the event into a nightmare for thousands of attendees.
More than 70,000 people reportedly turned up, far exceeding the organisers’ capacity to manage, resulting in packed halls, long lines snaking outside the venue, and widespread frustration among visitors, students, startups and industry professionals, Indian media reported.
In a major embarrassment for the Indian government, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw was forced to publicly apologise for the complete organisational collapse on the opening day of the Summit.
Vaishnaw admitted that visitors faced “trouble and hassles” and that the first day had become “a bit chaotic.”
He announced the setting up of a special “war room” at the venue — an admission that the government had lost control of the situation and was now scrambling to contain the damage.
The most shocking incident came when a sudden security evacuation was ordered just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival. Several startup founders were forced to abandon their exhibition booths.
Dhananjay Yadav, co-founder and CEO of Neo Sapien, revealed that expensive AI wearables prepared for demonstration were stolen from his booth during the security sweep.
In a strongly-worded post on X, Yadav wrote, “We paid for flights, hotels, logistics, even the booth itself, and then our devices vanished in what’s supposed to be a high-security area. Extremely disappointing.”
The incident has raised serious questions about the security arrangements for an event the Indian government was projecting as a global showcase of India’s AI prowess.
Hundreds of attendees took to social media to complain about long queues, suffocating crowds and poor management.
Many reported being unable to enter halls or even reach the venue properly. The minister himself acknowledged “complaints online about long lines and packed halls” but tried to put a positive spin, calling the massive turnout “phenomenal.”
With criticism mounting, the government hurriedly set up a “war room” and claimed that “a lot of issues have been fixed” for the subsequent days.
However, the day-one fiasco has already dented the image of the summit, which India had heavily promoted as proof of its rising stature in artificial intelligence.
The episode comes as another reminder of the huge gap between the Modi government’s grandiose announcements and actual ground-level execution — a pattern seen earlier in several high-profile international events hosted by India.