India made a choice in 1991. It chose reform over retreat.In 2016, it leapfrogged into building Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). As a result, it is today the world’s most advanced real-time payments market, at about 50 per cent of the global share. And UPI drives over 70 per cent of digital payments, impacting the lives of a billion people. In this chronology, 2026 is the third momentous occasion. The choice India faces now is whether to govern AI with strategic confidence or bureaucratic fear. That should be the real question at the India AI Impact Summit. If Indians get this…