Latest news with #CarnegieGlobalTechSummit
Zawya
14-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
India poised for one million startups by 2035: Nandan Nilekani at Carnegie Global Tech Summit
New Delhi: Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has outlined a bold vision for India's startup future, stating that the country is poised to have one million startups by 2035, a remarkable leap from just 2,000 in 2015. Speaking at the Carnegie Global Tech Summit, Nandan Nilekani, who is founding Chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar), said implementing AI at scale in India is built on an existing foundation of digital transformation that has happened for a decade. "All startups have been solving some problems over the years. The important thing is that we have a million of them. In 2015, we had about 2,000 startups. Today, we have 150,000 (will) have a million startups in 2035," he said. "They create a successful company. They go for IPO. All those guys have some options. Suddenly, one startup negates 100 more that cycle is now in full play. Which problems they will will solve problems in climate, in energy, in space," he added. He explained the powerful momentum behind India's entrepreneurial surge, crediting a "virtuous cycle" that fuels continuous innovation. "India's space story is a fabulous public narrative," he noted, pointing to the increasing role of private innovation in historically state-led sectors. He also outlined the growth of India's digital public infrastructure. "April 4th, 2016, Aadhaar reached 1 billion people. April 11th, 2016, UPI was launched. September 2, 2016, architecture was re-founded and was launched with RBI, which is the basis of democratic data. September 6th, 2016, Reliance Jio was launched, which changed the mobile business. November 8th, 2016, currency was withdrawn, also known as demonetization. And December 30th, 2016, Bhim app was launched." He stressed that these events were not spontaneous but a result of years of silent preparation. "But for this to happen, things had to have happened before. It's not like one morning we got up and all this happened. It was all developing over the previous few years. So I think the message is that you have to have the patience to build the basic foundation. It will take years. But if you do it well, then events will happen. So I think there's hope for everyone. And this time we can do it much faster. Because we know what we are doing." He said AI can help bring dynamic contextual information at fingertips. "When we look at implementing AI at scale in India, it's built on an exisiting foundation of digital transformation that has happened for a decade. With the current thing we have, the predominant languages of the phone are English and Hindi, the user interfaces are touchscreen and you have static knowledge available. Even with that, we have reached more than 500 million users. Today, WhatsApp in India has more than 600 million users, PhonePay has about 350-400 million users, UPI has 400 million users," he said. "As penetration of phones goes up and we reach a billion phones, what is going to take a billion people to use this? First, language will move from just Hindi and English to every major Indian language and that will make it much more the UI from keyboard and touch will go to voice and because of generative AI and reasoning capability if AI, you will go from static knowledge to dynamic contextual information that is at your fingertips," he added. He talked about the challenge of implementing AI in the public sector. "The most difficult is actually implementing AI in the public sector because public sector has structural constraints, it has ministries, departments, everybody is territorial so data is not shared. If data is the lifeblood of AI, we have to find a way to bring all AI together, irrespective of which part of the Government it comes from. So, public sector is the most difficult. Also because public trust is so important, ethical concerns are also important," he said. © Muscat Media Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Zawya
14-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
US-India tech ties must be driven by market forces, not just state support: Ashley J. Tellis at Carnegie Summit
New Delhi : Ashley J. Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, offered a candid analysis of the evolving US approach to global technology partnerships under a potential second Trump administration and the broader implications for the US-India relationship, at the Carnegie Global Tech Summit held in New Delhi on Friday. On the US-India technology partnership, Tellis argued that while state-led initiatives and subsidies are useful to jumpstart cooperation, they are not a viable long-term model. He stated, "I do not believe that a sustainable path for the US-India Relationship is through state action and state subsidies. Those are very good to jump-start the process, but if we have to keep it sustainable, we need to really have market transformations in both countries that essentially permit innovation to respond to the pressures of the market." Tellis pointed out a shift in US policy priorities, stating, "I think the bias in the Trump administration is to sell services. And given that bias, it is very likely that there will be much greater technology acquisition opportunities over here and for the rest of the world. Now, what it does to a certain conception of global order is a very different question." However, he cautioned that such a transactional approach could undermine long-standing frameworks designed to preserve the global order. He said, "For 70 years now, we tried to help our friends while at the same time maintaining a proliferation regime that would date to a certain conception of order. Now, if we end up in a situation where the price of helping our friends is to engulf the regime simultaneously, I'm not quite sure long-term US interests are at hand, nor am I sure that the interests of our friends are at hand. What is even worse is that I'm not sure the administration has the discipline to understand the issues at hand." Tellis expressed concern over whether future U.S. administrations would have the strategic discipline to manage these complexities. "Time will tell whether, net-net, we come out ahead," he said. © Muscat Media Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Times of Oman
13-04-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Indian envoy lauds space policy, says changes will place India on higher growth trajectory
New Delhi: Indian envoy Anupam Ray lauded the Government of India's space policy and said that the recent changes will leverage the expertise of the private sector, the ingenuity of Indian engineers and scientists, thereby placing India on a much higher growth trajectory in the domain of space. He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Carnegie Global Tech Summit. Speaking to ANI about India's strides in the space sector, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament, Anupam Ray, said, "We are a major space-faring nation. What that means is the ability to launch objects in space, fabricate and operate satellites, manage satellite applications and space situational awareness. In all of these, we have an unusually high degree of capacity, particularly for a country that belongs to the Global South." He highlighted that with this set of capabilities, India is amongst the only few countries in the world to be a part of this group. "The recent changes in space policy by the government of India, which try to leverage the expertise of the private sector, the ingenuity of Indian engineers and scientists--I think these will place India on a much higher growth trajectory in space at a time when space is taking off with a new space economy. I believe the potential is huge," he told ANI. Speaking about India's transparency and confidence-building measures in the space sector, Ambassador Ray said that India is a responsible participant and also responsibly observes all rules, such as avoiding and mitigating debris. Noting that space is a common domain, Ambassador Ray said, "It belongs to all of humanity, so everybody has a stake and a say, and these are complicated and technical conversations. So both as a country with space faring capacity and as a country which believes in international diplomacy, I think we have led by example and with a determination to do what is good for everyone." He also brought attention to the rapid commercialisation of the space sector and said, "India is one of the major players in this new space economy. We have a vibrant startup sector." Noting that India has a growing body of expertise in the private sector and the government sector, which deals with space on a day-to-day basis, "so this gives us capability, confidence, knowledge, and most importantly, desire to create the rules and regulations that will be adequate to the new space economy."
Times of Oman
13-04-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
India, EU "like-minded" on global issues, says Carnegie Europe Director Rosa Balfour
New Delhi: Calling India and the European Union (EU), like-minded partners and highlighting the increase in partnership between the two for the finalisation of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Carnegie Europe Director Rosa Balfour shared the nuances for the FTA on the sidelines of the Carnegie Global Tech Summit. Speaking to ANI on the increased consultations and discussions between India and EU, Balfour said, "We are already seeing quite an extraordinary escalation because the EU and India have actually been talking about the Free Trade Agreement for over 20 years." She noted that the two share similar opinions on several issues. "The EU and India on many issues are quite like-minded- they believe in WTO rules, they believe in working by those rules." Speaking about the issues between them, she highlighted the protection of agricultural products as an area. Noting that these would need to be worked out between the two sides, she highlighted, "The bar has been placed very high- the Prime Minister of India and the President of the European Commission have said that they should complete the free trade agreement by the end of the year. That might be slightly optimistic. But I think that if they set the bar so high, will be under pressure to deliver," Balfour told ANI. She noted that an area of concern would be how detailed and nuanced the FTA would come about. "The question therefore, will be how deep the FTA will be or how thin it will be? If there are political problems around certain sets of goods or certain issues, for instance, climate or deforestation, which has been one of the problems that the EU has encountered with other countries, then maybe it will be an FTA that will exclude certain areas," she added. Turning to the positive side, Balfour highlighted that with the FTA, the two sides will see a lot of potential in several avenues of collaboration. She said, "There's a lot of promise in this (FTA). There's a lot of promise to increase the exchange of goods, the mobility of people, the exchange of capital, investments, and technological cooperation. It seems to present the seeds of an alternative strategy to a global trade war." Previously, German Ambassador to India and Bhutan, Philipp Ackermann, had also said that India and the European Union will strive to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by the end of this year. Speaking at the 9th Carnegie Global Tech Summit on Saturday during the session 'Marquee panel: Sambhavna: Next is What?, he highlighted the growing strength of Europe-India relations. Ackermann had stressed the importance of cooperation between like-minded nations in support of global and free trade, stating that "we should not forget it is a time now, where those who believe in global and free trade, should join hands. this is the time where, we should sit together and try to figure out what is possible in the moment of an FTA," he added.
Times of Oman
12-04-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
US-India tech ties must be driven by market forces, not just state support: Ashley J. Tellis at Carnegie Summit
New Delhi : Ashley J. Tellis, Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, offered a candid analysis of the evolving US approach to global technology partnerships under a potential second Trump administration and the broader implications for the US-India relationship, at the Carnegie Global Tech Summit held in New Delhi on Friday. On the US-India technology partnership, Tellis argued that while state-led initiatives and subsidies are useful to jumpstart cooperation, they are not a viable long-term model. He stated, "I do not believe that a sustainable path for the US-India Relationship is through state action and state subsidies. Those are very good to jump-start the process, but if we have to keep it sustainable, we need to really have market transformations in both countries that essentially permit innovation to respond to the pressures of the market." Tellis pointed out a shift in US policy priorities, stating, "I think the bias in the Trump administration is to sell services. And given that bias, it is very likely that there will be much greater technology acquisition opportunities over here and for the rest of the world. Now, what it does to a certain conception of global order is a very different question." However, he cautioned that such a transactional approach could undermine long-standing frameworks designed to preserve the global order. He said, "For 70 years now, we tried to help our friends while at the same time maintaining a proliferation regime that would date to a certain conception of order. Now, if we end up in a situation where the price of helping our friends is to engulf the regime simultaneously, I'm not quite sure long-term US interests are at hand, nor am I sure that the interests of our friends are at hand. What is even worse is that I'm not sure the administration has the discipline to understand the issues at hand." Tellis expressed concern over whether future U.S. administrations would have the strategic discipline to manage these complexities. "Time will tell whether, net-net, we come out ahead," he said.
