RailTel Corporation of India Ltd., a Navratna CPSE under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, organised the RailTel AI Workshop 2026 – “AI@Government: Powering the Future” at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. The workshop brought together senior representatives from Government, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), technology companies and the AI ecosystem to deliberate on practical applications of Artificial Intelligence and its potential to accelerate digital transformation in Government.
Welcoming the participants, Shri Sanjai Kumar highlighted the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence in transforming the functioning of organisations and improving service delivery.
Delivering the keynote address, Shri S. Krishnan, IAS, Secretary, MeitY, emphasised that compute infrastructure, models and data must work together to build a strong AI ecosystem capable of developing applications suited to India’s multilingual, multicultural and sector-specific requirements. He underscored the importance of indigenous AI capabilities, data sovereignty, cybersecurity and the development of AI applications for governance, citizen-centric services and enterprises, while highlighting the support being provided through the IndiaAI Mission. Shri Krishnan also highlighted RailTel’s potential role in strengthening the country’s AI-ready infrastructure and enabling AI-led digital transformation, and complimented RailTel for creating a platform for focused deliberations on the way forward.
The workshop also featured a keynote address by Dr. Vivek Raghavan, Co-Founder, Sarvam, who shared his perspective on the rapidly evolving AI landscape and the opportunities presented by Artificial Intelligence in the Indian context.
A major highlight of the workshop was an extensive panel discussion moderated by Shri V. Rama Manohar Rao, Director/Finance, RailTel. The panel brought together Shri Laxmiprasad Putta, Founder & MD, Vassar Labs; Shri R. S. Mani, CTO, Dr. Anshul Vikram Pandey, Founder and Chief Builder, PanScience Innovation (PSI); Shri Deepak Rao, CEO, PivotChain Solutions, Shri Ankush Tiwari, Founder & CEO, Pi-Labs and RailTel Shri Abhishek Kumar Singh, Principal Engineer – AI, NxtGen.
The panel deliberated on real-world AI use cases and how Government organisations can effectively deploy AI to improve operational efficiency, strengthen decision-making. The discussion also examined key considerations surrounding data readiness, computing infrastructure, cybersecurity, interoperability, scalability, skills and responsible AI deployment.
Industry perspectives on the technologies and infrastructure enabling AI adoption were presented by Shri Nitin Gupta, Lead – GenAI & Cloud Strategy, Google, and Shri Prabhas Harlapur, Lead Solutions Architect, Intel.
The workshop concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Shri Manoj Tandon, Director/POM, RailTel.
The RailTel AI Workshop 2026 reinforced the importance of collaboration among Government, PSUs, technology companies and the wider innovation ecosystem for accelerating responsible and effective AI adoption. RailTel has been progressively strengthening its capabilities in AI and emerging technologies as part of its wider ICT and digital transformation portfolio. The deliberations are expected to contribute towards identifying scalable use cases, strengthening understanding of implementation requirements and enabling an ecosystem in which Artificial Intelligence can be leveraged to deliver measurable improvements in governance and public services.
