On August 5, 2026, the 27th ET Edge CIO&Leader Annual Conference was held in Jaipur, bringing together more than 250 CIOs, technology leaders, global AI experts and business executives. The three‑day event, themed “The Agentic Enterprise”, featured over 40 keynote addresses, fireside conversations, panel discussions and leadership sessions covering AI governance, cybersecurity, enterprise infrastructure, customer experience, workforce transformation, legal frameworks and AI‑native business models.
A central message was the transition from AI pilots to enterprise‑scale execution with measurable business outcomes. Sunita Quadros, COO of ET Edge, emphasized that trusted data, robust governance and responsible AI adoption will define autonomous enterprises. Conference head Sachin Mhashilkar noted that Indian enterprises have moved beyond the question of whether to adopt AI and now face the challenge of scaling AI while balancing trust, economics and governance.
The conference launched the “State of AI in Indian Enterprises 2026” research report, authored by R. Giridhar (Editorial Director, Technology, ET Edge) and Jatinder Singh (Chief Editor, Enterprise Tech Publications, ET Edge). The report highlighted growing focus on data readiness, governance frameworks, ROI measurement and the need to scale AI responsibly.
Awards recognised technology leadership. The 8th CIO&Leader Samman honoured Dr. Avadhut Parab (CIO, Waaree Group), Dheeraj Sinha (EVP & Global CIO, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries), Jayakumar N. (Head – IT, Joyalukkas India) and Kishore Hirani (President & CDO, Amara Raja Group). The 17th NEXT100 Awards, organized by IT Next and ET Edge, celebrated emerging technology leaders.
Key sessions explored Agentic AI systems capable of reasoning, planning and autonomous workflow orchestration, with Prof. Toby Walsh outlining safeguards such as least‑privilege access, human oversight, sandboxing and kill‑switch mechanisms. A fireside conversation with former cricket captain Rahul Dravid drew parallels between sport leadership and enterprise transformation. Additional sessions with Harish Bhat, Jim Sarbh, Dr. Pavan Duggal, Dr. Murthy Remilla and privacy expert Supratim Chakraborty examined trust, resilience, legal liability and the implications of India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act for autonomous AI.
Case studies were presented by organisations including Tata Group, HDFC Bank, Oracle, ServiceNow, Godrej Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Birlasoft, Hinduja Group, Air India, CareEdge, SBI Mutual Fund, Varroc, Exide Industries, Fiat India and KPMG. Speakers consistently stressed that governed, trusted data foundations—not models alone—are essential for delivering measurable AI‑driven business value.
The conference also addressed the emerging “Inference Economy”, discussing AI infrastructure, compute architectures, AI‑native cloud platforms, token economics and sovereign AI strategies, and highlighted the need to balance performance, economics, compliance, security and sovereignty.
In summary, the 27th ET Edge CIO&Leader Annual Conference concluded that the era of AI experimentation is giving way to execution, with success measured by the ability to build trusted, governed, autonomous enterprises that deliver quantifiable business outcomes.