HCL’s Ajai Chowdhry On How India Can Build A Product-Led Innovation Ecosystem

Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a venture or following a dream — it’s a change in how you think and work. It means being willing to give up comfort and certainty for the challenge of building something new. The journey is tough and unpredictable. More than talent or funding, it demands a mindset shift — one that redefines how you see success, persistence, and leadership.

This spirit of bold thinking and tackling complex challenges is now reflecting in India’s investment landscape as well. As per a recent Inc42 survey of India’s top investors, more than a fifth (22%) believe that the Indian startup ecosystem needs to prioritise high-impact deeptech sectors like AI, semiconductors, and drones over consumer convenience apps to transform industries. 

Ajai Chowdhry echoes this vision in his book ‘Just Aspire’, underlining the foundational role of semiconductors. He calls them the “heart of virtually every electronic device, and a critical driver of India’s technological future”.

Chowdhry dons many hats – entrepreneur, engineer, salesman, educationist, and investor – but he is best known as one of the six founding members of HCL and is often hailed as the ‘father of Indian hardware’.

He visited Galgotias University on October 10 as part of the ‘Galgotias Dialogue Series’ to discuss his book and encourage students to embrace innovation-driven entrepreneurship and thought leadership. The university, home to over 135 student-led startups, a Drone Innovation Lab, a Semiconductor Research Lab, one of the three iOS Development Centres powered by Apple and Infosys along with 10+ CoE and Industry engagement labs like TATA technologies, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HP, Intel, CISCO and many more provided a fitting setting for a conversation on India’s rapidly evolving startup ecosystem.

During the session, Chowdhry reflected on his journey from the 1970s, when the term startup didn’t exist, to cofounding one of India’s first global tech companies, HCL. 

“When we started, there was no funding, no VCs, no startup culture,” he recalled. “Six of us pooled INR 1.86 Lakh. Someone sold a car, someone borrowed money – and today that small dream is a $14 Bn (INR 1.23 Tn)  company. It’s all about aspiration.”

His philosophy – “A is greater than R”, or “aspiration is greater than resources”, as he quotes in his book – was borrowed from management thinker Dr CK Prahalad, under whom Chowdhry studied briefly at the University of Michigan. It became the central idea of his book and, as the discussion revealed, the essence of his entrepreneurial ethos. “If you have the aspiration,” he said, “the resources will follow.”

Can Young India Drive Product Innovation?

To a room full of engineering and management students, Chowdhry’s message was direct – India’s young talent must move beyond chasing placements and packages. 

“Do you want to carry a card with any company’s logo, or one that says your own company’s name?” he asked. “The measure of success for a university shouldn’t be how many students get impressive packages but how many startups it creates”.

He argued that India is uniquely positioned to lead a new wave of innovation. With the world’s youngest population, a massive domestic market, and a growing appetite for indigenous products, the country’s ecosystem is a fertile ground for entrepreneurship. 

“All other major economies are ageing,” he noted. “India is the youngest country, and that’s our biggest advantage. The playground for innovation is right here.”

A large part of the discussion focussed on India’s next big frontier – semiconductors and product innovation. Chowdhry, who has been a vocal advocate for India’s electronics and semiconductor mission, urged educational institutions to reorient their focus from producing coders to cultivating creators.

He also emphasised the urgency for India to move from a “services-led” to a “product-led” economy. For Chowdhry, the transformation starts in classrooms. He called on universities like Galgotias to “teach students how to make products, not just write code”. 

He also highlighted that collaborations between academia and industry, such as Galgotias University’s forward-looking partnerships with data technology firms, are shaping India’s next generation of product innovators. Galgotias’ focus on applied research, startup incubation, and industry-integrated learning makes it a model for how Indian universities can drive product-led growth.

From semiconductors to startups, his message was simple: India needs to build. For young entrepreneurs, this means thinking big, taking bold risks, and creating products that make the world see India not only as a services hub but also as a hotspot for innovation.