The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) hosted the second
edition of the India Conference on Information Systems (InCIS 2026) in collaboration with the
Association for Information Systems (AIS) India Chapter at its campus from March 5-7, 2026.
This year’s conference was centred around the theme “Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for a
Sustainable and Sovereign Digital Future”.
The conference was inaugurated by Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA; Prof. Pankaj Setia,
Conference Chair; Prof. Sujeet Sharma, President, AIS India Chapter; and Prof. Alok Gupta,
Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Information Management, University of Minnesota.
The conference featured 14 research tracks covering a wide range of topics in digital
technologies and information systems. These included ‘Digital Public Infrastructure for a
Sustainable and Sovereign Digital Future’; ‘Digital Business and Commerce’; ‘Collaborative and
Social Technologies’; ‘Technological Innovation and the Future of Work’; ‘Information Systems
Research for Social Good’; ‘Governance in Smart and Connected Environments’; ‘Security and
Privacy’; ‘Information Systems Design, Development & Project Management’; ‘Inclusion,
Diversity, and Sustainability through IS’; ‘AI and Analytics’; ‘Human Technology Interaction’;
‘Practitioners’ Track’; ‘Next Generation IS’; and ‘General IS Topics’.
Delivering the inauguration keynote on the first day of the conference, Prof. Bharat
Bhasker, Director, IIMA, welcomed the participants and highlighted the importance of
bringing together scholars, industry practitioners, and information systems professionals on a
common platform. Talking about the evolution of the Information Systems discipline, he said
that it has moved from supporting transactional efficiency to enabling organisations to extract
knowledge from vast data generated through digital systems.
Additionally, talking about the opportunities that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has presented for
Information Systems (IS) professionals today, he said, “Today AI has pushed Information
Systems into a new frontier, requiring professionals to focus on applying technology to real-
world problems and driving innovation. At the same time, it has also provided IS professionals
with the opportunity to be at the forefront. Information Systems professionals are now
positioned to lead in areas like process automation, predictive maintenance, and addressing
biases in AI systems.” He also urged the participants to deliberate on ideas that can help advance
the field of IS not only globally, but also in the Indian context.
In his conference keynote address, Prof. Pankaj Setia, Conference Chair, mentioned,
“Digital public infrastructures such as UPI, DigiLocker, and DigiYatra are laying the foundations
of a new digital age in India. The real impact will happen when there is a deep transformation in
how organisations function and how individuals interact with digital technologies. Purpose-
driven thinking is the core which interconnects individuals, organisations, as well as technology,
and is essential to ensure that digital transformation creates a meaningful impact.”
Prof. Alok Gupta, Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Information Management, University of
Minnesota, presented the academic keynote and urged the audience to think of artificial
intelligence as a mirror and a mentor to better understand human expertise and decision-making
patterns. He said, “The strength of human beings has always been our mental ability to think and
create with our minds. AI does not emphasise compatibility with human decision-making. It can
be used to extract human knowledge and understand our strengths and weaknesses. If we use AI
as a mirror to reflect on how we think and make decisions, we can develop a more explicit
understanding of our own processes. That understanding can help us improve ourselves and
build on our capabilities with the support of AI.”
InCIS 2026 saw three days of insightful discussions on Implications of DPI for platform
ecosystems, data governance, and digital identities; Perspectives from the global south and
contributions to DPI and Information Systems; Potential of IS to bridge digital divides and
foster sustainable development; Implementing responsible use of AI within organisations, Risk
assessment in DPIs; Building trust in DPIs, among various other topics in the field of digital
technologies and information systems.
The concluding day saw an industry keynote by Dr. R. S. Sharma, Distinguished Visiting
Professor, IIT Kanpur, Former Secretary to the Government of India, and Former DG and
Mission Director, UIDAI. He elaborated on the evolution of India’s Digital Public
Infrastructures and spoke about the design principles that shaped Aadhaar, UPI, Ayushman
Bharat Mission, and CO-WIN, among others.
He said, “Any digital solution built for India must take into consideration the country’s unique
diversity. We have great social, cultural, geographical, infrastructural, ethnic, religious, and
educational diversity, and therefore, a different approach is needed to develop inclusive
solutions.” He further elaborated on six core principles behind the success of DPIs in India and
said, “Our DPIs are succeeding because their design is tailored to India’s needs. They are frugal
and low-cost, scalable by design, inclusive and encourage diversity, have minimal public-sector
intervention, contain robust and cutting-edge technology, and are interoperable. We are now on
our way to build more DPIs in diverse sectors.”
The conference also witnessed an insightful panel discussion on ‘Digital Public
Infrastructure (DPI) and India’s Digital Transformation’, moderated by Prof. Samrat
Gupta, Programme Co-Chair, InCIS 2026. The panellists included Dr. Pankaj Dikshit, Executive
Director, Chief AI and Digital Officer, Cygnet.One; Mr. Sanjay Moralwar, Chief Information
Officer, Senores Pharmaceuticals Limited; and Mr. Tarun Vijh, Chief Information Officer,
HyFun Foods. The panel addressed several key topics, such as the scalability and interoperability
achieved with various DPI systems, including the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and the
Aadhar system, among other sector-specific DPIs. The panellists also shared their views on the
widespread adoption of DPIs and integration of AI in it, and the importance of balancing
innovation with data security and multi-party collaboration. In their concluding remarks, the
panellists agreed that other countries can learn significantly from India’s experiences of creating
multiple successful DPIs.
More than 250 national and international scholars, policy researchers, developers, industry
practitioners, community leaders, doctoral students, and early-career researchers participated in
the conference and deliberated on the evolving role of information systems in shaping digital
societies. The conference also received over 190 research paper submissions by researchers from
countries across the world.