Over the past few months, the Asia Dialogues Forum (ADF) 2026 convened eleven times in six cities across India, in two phases, to explore issues shaping the future of Asia and the world. What emerged from these closed-door conversations was a layered understanding of the questions Asia is beginning to ask of itself.

During the first round of discussions, framed around a central theme, ‘The Great Integration: Technology, Talent, and Transformation in Asia’, each of the six cities offered a distinct lens. Yet, beneath these varied perspectives lay a shared undercurrent: On a canvas coated with technology in general and AI in particular, painting Asia’s next phase of growth will be defined by how fast it scales as well as how securely and independently it can sustain that scale.

In the second round of closed-door meetings, the conversations focused on two themes – ‘Digital Trust at Scale: Cybersecurity and the Future of India’s Financial Ecosystem’ in Mumbai and ‘Capability Building in India’s Deeptech Era’ in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Mumbai: Scaling Inclusion and Cybersecurity

Bringing together financial services leaders, technology executives and policymakers, Mumbai’s first round of discussions leaned into how AI and technology are transforming India’s financial capital and how the city is democratizing access to capital markets for the next 300 million Indians. The conversation reflected both ambition and responsibility, particularly as AI begins to shape financial inclusion at scale.

During the second high-powered dialogue in the city, which brought together the most consequential voices in India’s BFSI landscape — from board chairs and CISOs to regulators, national security experts, and academic leaders — the discussion centered around building ‘Digital Trust at Scale’. What emerged was both a diagnosis and a call to action. The think-tank advocated for digital trust, not as a compliance checkbox but the foundation on which every future financial transaction must rest.

Amit Dubey, a National Security and Cyber Intelligence Expert, described criminal syndicates operating sophisticated AI-driven operations: bot networks that engage potential victims across multiple social media platforms over weeks, building credibility before executing a final attack. The patience and sophistication of these operations — enabled by AI tools accessible at minimal cost — represents a fundamental shift from the........

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