On November 7, 2025, the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (OPSA) to the Government of India, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Consulate General of France in Bengaluru, organized the Third India-France AI Policy Roundtable at the Council Chamber, Main Building, IISc Bengaluru. This event served as a pre-summit gathering for the upcoming AI Impact Summit 2026, to be hosted by India.
The roundtable continued the ongoing Track 1.5 dialogue series on AI policy cooperation between India and France, following previous editions held in Bengaluru and Paris. It focused on advancing collaboration across the pillars of AI infrastructure, industry partnerships, research cooperation, and responsible AI governance.
The session was co-chaired by Her Excellency Ms. Anne Bouverot, Special Envoy of the President of the French Republic for Artificial Intelligence, and Shri Amit A. Shukla, Joint Secretary, Cyber Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
The roundtable emphasized that India's AI ecosystem, anchored in digital public infrastructure, a vibrant startup network, and strong academic institutions, offers a scalable platform for co-development and innovation with French partners. The French delegation underlined its commitment to responsible, human-centric Al development and the importance of industrial cooperation in expanding access to AI resources and compute capacity.
The session was co-moderated by Professor Chiranjib Bhattacharyya from the Department of Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and Professor Francis Rousseaux from ETI Expertise France and the iSPIRT Foundation.
Notable participants included: Dr. Preeti Banzal, Adviser/Scientist ‘G', OPSA; Mr. Marc Lamy, Consul General of France in Bengaluru; Ms. Kavita Bhatia, Scientist 'G' & Group Coordinator (AI & Emerging Technologies), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India; Mr. Emilien Coquard, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), The Scalers; Mr. Ankush Sabharwal, Founder and CEO, CoRover and BharatGPT; Mr. Alexandre Correia, Director, Sopra Steria, representing French Tech India; Mr. Rajgopal A. S., Director and CEO, NxtGen Cloud Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Vikram Balakrishna, Chief Technology Officer, Atos; Mr. Ashish Tewari, Head, Responsible AI Office, Infosys; Dr. Jyoti Joshi, Founder and CEO, Kroop.ai, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Human-Centred Computing, Monash University; Ms. Raphaëlle Sananes, Counselor, French Embassy in New Delhi; Mr. Xavier Seurre, Representative, Diplomatie Économique; Mr. Antoine Guillemet, Attaché for Scientific and University Cooperation, Institut Français India (IFI); Ms. Constance Mickiewicz, Special Advisor of the Special Envoy of France for AI at French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Mayank Vatsa, Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur; Dr. Danish Pruthi, Assistant Professor, IISc; Mr. Kunal Raj Barua, Senior Manager, Aapti Institute; Mr. Pierre Beaudoin, Economic Attaché, Consulate General of France in Bengaluru. Mr. Animesh Jain, Tech Policy Specialist, IISc and Senior Policy Fellow (adjunct), OPSA; and Mr. Kunal Thakur, Policy Analyst, IISc.
Key Entities Referenced
Third India-France AI Policy Roundtable: A dialogue series on AI policy cooperation between India and France.
AI Impact Summit 2026: An upcoming summit related to AI policy, for which the roundtable is a pre-summit event.
Bengaluru: The location in India where the roundtable took place.
Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (OPSA): An office involved in organizing the roundtable.
Ministry of External Affairs: The Indian Ministry whose Joint Secretary of Cyber Diplomacy Division co-chaired the Roundtable.
Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to GoI
Third India–France AI Policy Roundtable held
at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
Bengaluru
Posted On: 07 NOV 2025 9:41PM by PIB Delhi
As part of the pre-summit event for the upcoming AI Impact Summit 2026 being hosted by India, the
Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (OPSA) to the Government of India, in collaboration with
the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Consulate General of France in Bengaluru, organised the
Third India–France AI Policy Roundtable on 7 November, 2025 at the Council Chamber, Main
Building, IISc Bengaluru.
The roundtable continued the ongoing Track 1.5 dialogue series on AI policy cooperation between
India and France, following the previous editions held in Bengaluru and Paris earlier this year. It
focused on advancing collaboration across the pillars of AI infrastructure, industry partnerships,
research cooperation, and responsible AI governance, as part of the shared vision of equitable access
to AI resources and inclusive innovation.
The session was co-chaired by Her Excellency Ms. Anne Bouverot, Special Envoy of the President of
the French Republic for Artificial Intelligence and Shri Amit A. Shukla, Joint Secretary, Cyber
Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, who highlighted theimportance of strengthening bilateral collaboration in emerging technologies.
The roundtable emphasised that India’s AI ecosystem, anchored in digital public infrastructure, a
vibrant startup network, and strong academic institutions, offers a scalable platform for co-
development and innovation with French partners. The French delegation underlined its commitment
to responsible, human-centric AI development and the importance of industrial cooperation in
expanding access to AI resources and compute capacity.
The session was co-moderated by Professor Chiranjib Bhattacharyya from the Department of
Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), representing India, and
Professor Francis Rousseaux from ETI Expertise France and the iSPIRT Foundation, representing
France.The discussion was followed by interventions from representatives across government, industry,
startups, and academia from both countries, contributing diverse perspectives on strengthening
bilateral cooperation in artificial intelligence, including Dr. Preeti Banzal, Adviser/Scientist ‘G’,
OPSA; Mr. Marc Lamy, Consul General of France in Bengaluru; Ms. Kavita Bhatia, Scientist ‘G’ &
Group Coordinator (AI & Emerging Technologies), Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY), Government of India; Mr. Emilien Coquard, Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
The Scalers; Mr. Ankush Sabharwal, Founder and CEO, CoRover and BharatGPT; Mr. Alexandre
Correia, Director, Sopra Steria, representing French Tech India; Mr. Rajgopal A. S., Director and
CEO, NxtGen Cloud Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Vikram Balakrishna, Chief Technology Officer,
Atos; Mr. Ashish Tewari, Head, Responsible AI Office, Infosys; Dr. Jyoti Joshi, Founder and CEO,
Kroop.ai, and Senior Lecturer, Department of Human-Centred Computing, Monash University; Ms.
Raphaëlle Sananes, Counselor, French Embassy in New Delhi; Mr. Xavier Seurre, Representative,
Diplomatie Économique; Mr. Antoine Guillemet, Attaché for Scientific and University Cooperation,
Institut Français India (IFI); Ms. Constance Mickiewicz, Special Advisor of the Special Envoy of
France for AI at French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Mayank Vatsa, Professor, Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) Jodhpur; Dr. Danish Pruthi, Assistant Professor, IISc; Mr. Kunal Raj Barua, Senior
Manager, Aapti Institute; Mr. Pierre Beaudoin, Economic Attaché, Consulate General of France in
Bengaluru. Mr. Animesh Jain, Tech Policy Specialist, IISc and Senior Policy Fellow (adjunct), OPSA;
and Mr. Kunal Thakur, Policy Analyst, IISc also participated in the discussions.
The roundtable discussions will contribute valuable insights for the upcoming AI Impact Summit
2026 as well as the India–France Year of Innovation 2026.
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MJPS/ST
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