AI Impact Summit 2026: Mumbai Street Vendor Accepting Instant Phone Payments Is a Civilisation Story, Says Emmanuel Macron

Addressing the India-AI Impact Summit 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted India’s digital transformation in his speech by sharing an example of Mumbai street vendors’ bank accounts. He said that a decade ago, the vendors who sold goods on the streets of Mumbai did not have bank accounts, but now they are using digital payment methods very easily. President Macron started his address with a warm ‘Namaste,’ and he spoke about technology, regulation, and the future of artificial intelligence during his speech at the AI Summit 2026 on Thursday. 

#WATCH | Delhi: At the #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026, French President Emmanuel Macron says, "I started with a story about a street vendor in Mumbai. Ten years ago, the world told India that 1.4 billion people could not be brought into the digital economy. India proved them wrong.… pic.twitter.com/klKt5G1ans

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2026

In his address, Macron said, “Thank you very much for welcoming us to this magnificent city and this magnificent country. It is great to be back after my 2024 state visit for this Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit hosted by you, Mr. Prime Minister. I want to begin with a story. Ten years ago, a street vendor in Mumbai could not open a bank account — no address, no papers, no access. Today, the same vendor accepts payments on his phone instantly and for free from anyone in the country. That is not just a tech story; it is a civilisation story. India built something no other country has built — a digital identity for 1.4 billion people,” he said.

Praising India for having a fully functional and easily accessible digital infrastructure, Macron said that India has built something that no other nation could make. He said India built something that no other country in the world has built. A digital identity for 1.4 billion people. A payment system that now processes 20 billion transactions every month.

#WATCH | Delhi: At the #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026, French President Emmanuel Macron says, "India built something that no other country in the world has built. A digital identity for 1.4 billion people. A payment system that now processes 20 billion transactions every month. A… pic.twitter.com/tWLR9X4Gh3

— ANI (@ANI) February 19, 2026

Also Read: AI must not replace human potential, but augment it: UN chief 

Macron spoke about India Stack Open Interoperable Sovereign. The French President said, A health infrastructure that has issued 500 million digital health IDs. Here are the results. They call it the India Stack Open Interoperable Sovereign. That is what this summit is about. We are clearly at the beginning of a huge acceleration, and you perfectly described it during your interventions..." 

Addressing the wider global artificial intelligence landscape, Macron remarked that AI has increasingly turned into a space defined by geopolitical rivalry. Recalling the joint effort undertaken last year, he said that when Emmanuel Macron and Narendra Modi co-hosted the AI Action Summit in Paris, they laid down a shared global vision for technologies poised to reshape societies and economies. He emphasized their belief that Artificial Intelligence should serve as a catalyst for faster innovation and meaningful transformation across healthcare, energy, mobility, agriculture, and public services, ultimately benefiting humanity. Both leaders, he noted, see AI as a powerful revolution, even as it becomes a critical domain of strategic contest where major technology firms continue to consolidate influence.

Reflecting on developments over the past year, Macron observed that although AI has evolved into a highly competitive strategic arena, there is still room for a model centered on innovation, independence, and strategic autonomy. Highlighting India’s approach, he pointed out that the country has taken sovereign decisions by building compact, task-oriented language models and making 38,000 government-supported GPUs available at affordable costs to nurture startups and local innovation ecosystems.

Bringing his speech full circle, Macron revisited the anecdote of a Mumbai street vendor he had mentioned at the outset. A decade ago, he said, skeptics doubted whether 1.4 billion people could be integrated into the digital economy—but India defied those assumptions. Today, as some argue that AI is a field reserved only for the largest players, he suggested otherwise. India, France, Europe, and like-minded partners—including businesses, governments, and investors—can pursue an alternative path. The future of AI, he concluded, will be shaped by those who blend technological advancement with responsibility and human values, with India and France committed to building that future together.