The company said Gopal Vittal will take over as Non-Executive Chairman from the same date, while Shravin Bharti Mittal will assume the role of Deputy Chair, ensuring continuity of leadership from the founding family, which remains a significant shareholder in Airtel Africa.
Sunil Bharti Mittal said that telecommunication is a force that expands opportunity, places essential services in the palm of every individual and unlocks human potential.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, highlighted India’s growing leadership in artificial intelligence, predicting that the country will soon have the world’s largest base of AI users. He said India is uniquely positioned to shape global thinking on data governance, privacy, security, and trust. Mittal stressed the critical importance of content authenticity, backing the Prime Minister’s call for provenance and watermarking to help distinguish real information from fake. He also supported open standards and democratized AI, warning against concentration of technology in a few hands. Expressing confidence in India’s innovation ecosystem, Mittal said the country is better placed than most to balance commercial interests with AI’s broader responsibility to humanity.
At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder-Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, and Shantanu Narayen, Chairman and CEO of Adobe, shared their perspectives on artificial intelligence and India’s global role. Both leaders underlined AI’s transformative impact across sectors such as healthcare, connectivity, education, and personalized medicine. Narayen highlighted India’s potential to lead in AI adoption, open standards, data trust, and content authenticity, while Mittal emphasized India’s strength in frugal innovation and “jugaad.” Together, they stressed that India’s scale, openness, and innovation mindset uniquely position it to shape responsible and inclusive AI for the world.
Kavin Bharti Mittal listed three products developed during the period, including cross-platform note-taking tools and an AI assistant.
WEF DAVOS 2026 | Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Strong Message On India’s Tariff Resilience
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson & Executive Editor-in-Chief of the India Today Group, spoke with Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, on India’s growth trajectory and global challenges. Mittal said India’s rise to the world’s third-largest economy is inevitable, but stressed that scale alone is not enough. He argued India must expand to a $25–30 trillion economy to meaningfully raise incomes. Highlighting strong government support, PLI-led manufacturing gains and rising exports, Mittal cautioned that intense global competition and shifting trade norms remain key risks. COURTESY - WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, India’s growth story takes center stage. Growing at 6.5%, India is the fastest-growing major economy, fueled by infrastructure investment, a digital revolution, and an expanding manufacturing base. In this session, Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson & Executive Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, joins Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises; Juvencio Maeztu Herrera, CEO & President of INGKA Group (IKEA); Gita Gopinath, Harvard Professor of Economics; Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways & Electronics & IT; and N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, to discuss whether India can sustain growth, investment, and innovation amid structural and global challenges. COURTESY - WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Electronics and Information Technology, told Business Today that India’s reform-led growth has triggered discussions among global leaders on hosting a World Economic Forum event in the country. He added that the idea includes the possibility of an “autumn Davos”-style meeting in India.
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