The Black Swan Summit India 2026 kicked off today in Bhubaneswar, gathering policymakers, industry leaders, technologists, and global investors to examine the impact of frontier technologies on India’s digital finance economy.
Co-organised by the Government of Odisha and the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) under the BharatNetra Initiative, the summit places Odisha at the centre of regulated digital finance and sustainable job creation in India.
The opening was led by Vishal Kumar Dev, Additional Chief Secretary, Electronics & Information Technology Department, Government of Odisha introduced Odisha as a state where history, resilience and forward ambition meet. “Odisha has transformed over two decades into a model of governance reform, fiscal discipline, disaster resilience and inclusive growth. Bhubaneswar today is a leading smart city with strong digital public infrastructure, a growing IT and startup ecosystem, and rising global interest in fintech and technology.”
He added: “For the fintech community, Odisha offers three key strengths: scale with inclusion, demonstrated by digital finance empowering women’s self-help groups; a strong talent pipeline of engineers and data professionals; and a governance culture rooted in trust and policy stability. With competitive costs, quality of life and stable policies, the state is emerging as a destination for global capability centres and fintech innovation.”
Chief Secretary, Anu Garg said Odisha has emerged as a $112 billion economy with strong fundamentals with 69% working-age population and the best fiscal health record in India with two decades of revenue surplus. Rich in minerals and rapidly diversifying beyond traditional industries into EVs, electronics and green energy, the state is focused on value-added manufacturing, infrastructure expansion and ease of doing business. “Odisha aims to create 10 million jobs by 2027, scale to a $500 billion economy by 2036 and $1.5 trillion by 2047, while advancing urbanisation, disaster resilience, women’s participation and positioning itself as a global health and skills hub,” she noted.
A Global Leaders’ Dialogue on Technology, Jobs and Growth brought together Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman and Managing Director, Bajaj Finserv; Douglas Feagin, President, Ant International; Ravi Menon, Chairman, Global Finance & Technology Network and former Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore; and Michael Schlein, President, Accion exploring how AI, digital finance and global capital flows are reshaping employment, productivity and inclusive growth.
The session on Building India’s Continuous Learning Infrastructure for an AI-Driven Economy featured Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar; Aravind Agarwal, Higher Education Secretary, Government of Odisha; Dr. Amar Patnaik, Partner, A&N Legal Solutions; Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog; and Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India, with opening remarks by Tek Yew, Adjunct Professor, NUS-AIDF and Senior Advisor to BCG and the ASEAN Bankers Association focused on aligning skilling systems with the needs of an AI-driven economy.
A debate on Benchmarking Odisha’s Insurance Ecosystem examined the feasibility of the state becoming a testing ground for inclusive InsurTech innovation. Speakers included Kartik Poddar, Symbo Insurance; Harshad Bhojane, Shoveltech Solutions; Amol Gupta, Advanze; Vyasa Krishna Burgupalli, Reesecure; and Dr. Srinivasa Rao, Bajaj Finserv. The discussion was moderated by Arjun Vir Singh, Arthur D. Little, with context set by Tek Yew.
The session on Assessing Odisha’s GCC Ecosystem explored whether technology-led or talent-led strategies will best future-proof global capability centres in an era of automation and AI. Moderated by James Boey, CEO (China, India, ASEAN, Europe & Central Asia) and Co-CEO, GFTN, the panel featured Makoto Shibata, FINOLAB; Kimihiro Sakaguchi, SMBC Global Services; Jinya Suzuki, MUFG Global Service; Yanan Wu, Surfin Meta Digital Technology; Karthikeyan, Invest India; and Manas Panda, STPI Bhubaneswar.
A session on Benchmarking India’s FinTech Trajectory examined whether emerging technologies such as AI, tokenisation and quantum computing could trigger disruptive shifts in financial services. Context was set by Takeshi Kito, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, with Dr. Andrzej Gwizdalski, Western Australia Web3, moderating. Speakers included Pratyush Prasanna, Flip.id; Debiprasad Sarangi, IserveU; Suvendu Pati, Reserve Bank of India; Saurav Mohanty, Nucleus Software; and Siddharth Shetty, Finternet Labs.
Together, the sessions underscored India’s and Odisha’s readiness to lead global conversations on AI-powered finance, workforce transformation, and resilient economic growth.
James Boey, Chief Executive Officer, China, India, ASEAN, Europe & Central Asia & Co-CEO, GFTN said, “Technology may accelerate possibility, but talent gives it direction, governance, and purpose. In today’s AI-driven world, the real risk is not that technology will replace jobs, it’s that those who fail to adapt will be left behind by those who know how to use it. From India’s evolving GCC 3.0 landscape to AI-powered financial inclusion, one truth stands out: innovation scales through technology, but transformation sustains through talent. The future will belong to ecosystems that develop both, responsibly, strategically, and at scale.”
At the Black Swan Summit India, a set of strategic MoUs was signed with corporate partners across Odisha, India and global markets Bajaj General Insurance, Advanze Tech, Annapurna Tech Universe, ESTPL, ProgCap, Propelld, ShovelTech Solutions, Spice Money, Surfin, Symbo Insurtech, Universal Pensions and Vayana reinforcing BharatNetra’s role as an execution platform for skills, jobs and innovation. These partners will support internships, apprenticeships, startup mentorship and pilot projects with state agencies, helping translate training into employment and policy into implementation. Additional MoUs include ANT International’s partnership with Mission Shakti, Government of Odisha, to support women entrepreneurs, and a collaboration between Startup Policy Forum India and the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) to connect Indian startups with global markets. Signed in the presence of senior state leadership and GFTN representatives, the agreements underscored sustained collaboration between industry, government and global partners to build a strong pipeline from education to enterprise, further strengthening Odisha’s positioning as an emerging FinTech and InsurTech talent and execution hub with growing global connectivity.
Sopnendu Mohanty, Group CEO, Global Finance & Technology Network said, “At a time when AI and geopolitics are reshaping the global job market and nearly 40% of existing skills risk becoming obsolete, we are choosing to prepare rather than react. Odisha is witnessing a Black Swan moment, and through the BharatNetra strategy, we are laying the foundation for a long-term shift from a mining economy to a mind economy. This is about building skills, innovation, global mindshare, and global capability centres so that jobs are created sustainably, women and youth are meaningfully included in the workforce, and Odisha emerges as a trusted global hub serving Asia and beyond.”
Momentum from today builds toward Day 2, which is expected to welcome Hon’ble President Smt. Droupadi Murmu as Chief Guest. The upcoming sessions will expand on sector transformation and capital markets for frontier technologies, setting the stage for strategies that accelerate India’s leadership in the digital economy.
