India's AI Future: Startups Urged for Domestic Funding and Innovation

The ET Startup Awards 2025, held in Bengaluru, highlighted India's accelerating journey into an AI-driven future. Satyan Gajwani, Chairman of Times Internet, emphasized India's rapid learning and adaptation, positioning it as a global creator of technology. He called for the establishment of AI innovation hubs that combine talent, computing power, and capital to tackle long-term challenges, stressing the need for deep research, patient funding, and visionary policies to avoid falling behind. Union Minister Piyush Goyal urged Indian startups, particularly in deep tech, to leverage domestic capital rather than relying heavily on foreign venture capital. The event celebrated innovative entrepreneurs. Peyush Bansal, CEO of Lenskart, discussed IPOs as milestones while aiming for global impact. Abhiraj Singh Bhal, CEO of Urban Company, shared their long-term vision for building a sustainable institution focused on profitable growth. Myntra CEO Nandita Sinha highlighted the vast potential in the fashion market driven by Gen Z, and Rapido cofounder Aravind Sanka spoke about the future of multimodal urban mobility and the need for supportive regulatory frameworks.

Impact: This news is significant as it shapes the narrative around India's technological future, its startup ecosystem's funding landscape, and the government's push for self-reliance in capital. It influences investor sentiment towards innovation, deep tech, and companies pursuing IPOs. Rating: 7/10

Difficult Terms: AI (Artificial Intelligence): Technology that enables machines to perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. Deep Tech: Refers to startups and companies developing technologies that are based on significant scientific or engineering innovation, often with a long development cycle and high R&D investment. IPO (Initial Public Offering): The process by which a private company offers its shares to the public for the first time, becoming a publicly traded company. Venture Capital (VC): Funding provided by investors to startups and small businesses with perceived long-term growth potential. Compute Power: The processing capacity of a computer system, often referring to the availability of high-performance computing resources essential for tasks like AI model training. Gen Z: The demographic cohort born approximately between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s, known for their digital nativism and unique consumer behaviors. Multimodal: In the context of urban mobility, it refers to the integration of various modes of transport (e.g., bikes, cars, public transit) into a single seamless journey. Mobility Aggregator: A company that aggregates different transportation services (like ride-hailing, bike rentals, public transport information) onto a single platform for users.