India chases 'DeepSeek moment' with homegrown AI models

A visitor playing with an Addverb robot at the AI Impact Summit, in New Delhi on Feb 19, 2026. - Reuters

NEW DELHI: Fledgling Indian artificial intelligence companies showcased homegrown technologies this week at a major summit in New Delhi, underpinning big dreams of becoming a global AI power.

But analysts said the country was unlikely to have a "DeepSeek moment" -- the sort of boom China had last year with a high-performance, low-cost chatbot -- any time soon.