New Delhi turns into the beating heart of India's telecom and technology story every October, and this year is no different. From October 7 to 10, 2026, the India International Convention and Expo Centre better known as Yashobhoomi, in Dwarka will host the tenth edition of what has grown into Asia's largest digital technology forum. If you work anywhere near telecom, AI, semiconductors, or digital infrastructure, India Mobile Congress 2026 is probably already on your radar.
Since its first edition in 2017, IMC has grown from a modest telecom-industry gathering into something closer to a national showcase. Last year's event pulled in over 1.5 lakh visitors, more than 7,000 global delegates, and upwards of 400 exhibitors. The tenth edition is expected to push those numbers further, with organisers projecting more than 150,000 participants across the four days.
Jointly organised by the Department of Telecommunications and the Cellular Operators Association of India, IMC has always carried a certain gravity Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated most recent editions, and this year's opening ceremony is likely to follow that pattern, given how central the event has become to India's digital diplomacy push.
The theme this year, "Scale Without Boundaries," was unveiled by Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in July, and it says a fair bit about where India's telecom ambitions currently sit. The country isn't just building 5G and 6G capability for itself anymore; it wants to export what it builds. Scindia framed it as a shift from "Vocal for Local" to "Local for Global" home-grown telecom standards, digital public infrastructure, and manufacturing capacity finding buyers and partners well beyond India's borders.
That ambition shows up in the four pillars structuring this year's agenda. Srishti covers innovation and emerging technology. Suraksha is about cybersecurity and building digital trust as India's dependence on connected systems deepens. Sashakt looks at inclusive access bringing more communities into the digital economy rather than leaving connectivity as an urban privilege. And Samvardhan ties it together with a growth lens: investment, entrepreneurship, and jobs.
On the ground, expect the usual mix that has defined IMC for years, just at a larger scale. 5G rollout stories will share space with early 6G research, since India has been positioning itself as a serious contender through the Bharat 6G Alliance. Satellite communication is likely to get more airtime than in previous years, given how much movement there's been globally in that space. Semiconductors, quantum computing, IoT, cloud and edge infrastructure, and green technology will round out the technical tracks, alongside dedicated startup zones where younger companies get floor space next to telecom giants like Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.
For startups, IMC has become a real launchpad rather than just a stall on the exhibition floor. The Aspire programme, introduced a few editions ago, gives young companies working on telecom and digital innovation a shot at visibility alongside established players pitch sessions, mentorship, and access to investors who might otherwise never notice a fifteen-person team from a tier-two city. It is one of the reasons IMC keeps pulling in founders even when the bigger headlines are about spectrum policy and semiconductor fabs.
For anyone who has attended past editions, IMC isn't really one event it's several running in parallel. There are policy discussions where government officials and industry bodies work through spectrum allocation, manufacturing incentives, and regulatory questions. There are live product demonstrations where companies show off network equipment, devices, and use cases that are still a year or two from mainstream adoption. And there are the deal-making corridors, where B2B meetings and pavilion visits quietly shape partnerships that show up as press releases months later.
What makes this year worth watching in particular is the milestone itself. Ten editions in, IMC has moved past being just a telecom trade show. It now sits at the intersection of India's manufacturing push, its AI ambitions, and its attempt to be seen as a technology exporter rather than just a technology market. The government's own target of reaching a billion 5G users by 2030 gives the event a concrete backdrop this isn't abstract futurism, it's a checkpoint on a roadmap that's already underway.
For businesses tracking India's digital economy, whether you're in telecom, SaaS, manufacturing, or anything adjacent, IMC 2026 is worth following even if you can't make it to Yashobhoomi in person. The announcements that come out of these four days, on spectrum policy, 6G research, satellite partnerships, or AI infrastructure, tend to shape industry conversations for months afterward. And with the "Scale Without Boundaries" theme putting global expansion front and centre, there's a good chance some of what gets unveiled this October ends up mattering well beyond India's own market.
If you're planning to attend, register early. Past editions have seen passes and meeting room bookings fill up weeks ahead of the actual event, particularly for the opening day sessions.