India super-fortunate to have young people embracing AI, policymakers giving digital push: IMF chief

New Delhi: India is "super fortunate" to have a youthful population that is embracing AI, and policymakers are investing in digital public infrastructure and removing barriers to entrepreneurship, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday.

Georgieva also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron for taking AI on a "productive journey".

"To Prime Minister Modi, thank you for embracing the theme of democratisation of AI," she told reporters on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit 2026 here.


Urging policymakers to be "agile" with regard to AI, Georgieva said the IMF will continue to work with countries to understand what is happening in AI and then how to project it for policies for the future.

"I want to finish with a message to the Indian friends here in the audience. You're very fortunate that your country invested in public digital infrastructure. So, this condition for AI, check. You are very fortunate because your country is actively removing barriers to entrepreneurship.

"And on that count, we say, check. And you are super fortunate to have youthful, energetic, innovative population that is embracing AI. So what do we say? Check. So all the very best," Georgieva said at a fireside chat at the Summit.

She also said that AI adoption will lift global growth by about one percentage point and help India achieve its goal of Viksit Bharat. India has set a goal to become a developed country by 2047.

"I am very optimistic about AI. I'm also not naive, it brings significant risks," Georgieva said while listing out the risk of making countries and the world less fair, as some countries will have the technology and others won't.