Prime Minister Narendra Modi will headline The Economic Times World Leaders Forum as top business leaders from across continents assemble in the Capital on Friday, for two days of crackling conversations in a world being rapidly reshaped by unpredictable geopolitics, technology, shifting power equations and India’s increasingly muscular role in driving the global economy.
The Prime Minister, leader of the fastest-expanding major economy, takes centrestage amid an era of profound change. AI is rewriting conventional business models, geopolitics is redrawing trade routes, global capital is looking for new destinations, and demographic trends are transforming the way companies do business
In this backdrop, ET WLF 2026 — themed Shared Futures: Secure, Intelligent, Resilient — kicks off by bringing together a glittering galaxy of global business leaders, policymakers, investors and thinkers.
ET WLF, India’s premier global business event, hosts a formidable line-up this time, including former UK prime minister Boris Johnson.
Other big names at the event include Anthony Capuano, president and chief executive of Marriott International; Manny Maceda, chairman of Bain & Co; Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and executive chairman of S4 Capital; Anu Aiyengar, global chair of investment banking and M&A at JPMorgan; Kevin D Strain, president and chief executive, Sun Life; Baroness Sharon White of La Caisse; Sir Ron Kalifa of Brookfield; David Bach, president at IMD Business School; Vivek Lall, chief executive of General Atomics Global Corporation; Yuvraj Narayan, group CEO of DP World; and Hans Christian Dall Nygård, head of private equity at SPEC Finance, alongside senior leaders from Dubai, the US and other global markets.
India’s global ambitions will have a disproportionate share of the conversations that are expected to help shape policy responses beyond New Delhi.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar will share his views on how India can navigate the new global power game and shape its place in a changing world order, while US Ambassador Sergio Gor will speak on how India-US ties can evolve from a strategic partnership into a broader global power partnership.
Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, will share his perspective on building Indian businesses for the world. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, president and chief executive of Dubai Chambers, will explore how the India-Dubai relationship is creating a new geography of global business, trade and investment.
Top Indian business leaders — including Puneet Chhatwal of Indian Hotels, Preeti Lobana of Google India, Suresh Sethi of Visa and Jayen Mehta of Amul — will talk about the changing Indian consumer, rising aspirations and the new India blueprint.
In another interesting conversation, Uday Shankar, vice chairman of JioStar, will examine the changing economics of media and sport.
On the first day, chief ministers of Bihar and Chhattisgarh, Samrat Choudhary and Vishnu Deo Sai, respectively, will outline industrial ambitions as the fight for investment intensifies.
The evening of day one will also bring one of the forum’s defining conversations, ‘The Great Rewiring: How AI, Geopolitics and Demographic Shifts Are Redrawing the Map of Global Business,’ featuring Capuano, Maceda, Bach and Lall.
The day ends with the Prime Minister’s speech, in which he will likely share with the audience his vision and blueprint for India’s march toward becoming a developed economy.
On day two, the technology track will bring founders and investors from the global tech ecosystem to India, with conversations on AI-native companies, cybersecurity and the next generation of intelligent systems.
From AI to capital, Dubai to Delhi, geopolitics to the boardroom, ET WLF will bring together the people helping create the new world economy.
