Innovative Youth, Increasing Tech Access To Enable Next Wave Of Innovation In India: PM Modi

India’s technology and innovation have already impressed the world, but the future will be even better given the increasing tech access in the country and its “innovative youth”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during the inaugural session of the 25th Bengaluru Tech Summit on Wednesday (November 16).

“We are now the third-largest startup hub in the world. We have over 81,000 recognised startups. There are hundreds of international companies with R&D hubs in India… this is due to India’s talent pool,” said Modi.

He said that tech innovation and the increasing number of startups have helped India become a global leader in the technology landscape. 

“India jumped to the 40th rank in the Global Innovation Index this year; in 2015, we were ranked 81. The number of unicorn startups in India has doubled since 2021,” Modi said, adding that Bengaluru is the home of technology and thought leadership. The city has been ranked number one on India’s Innovation Index for several years now, the prime minister said.

India is currently home to 107 unicorns and is now creating unicorns faster than China. Bengaluru has produced the highest number of unicorns (40) in India so far. 

Modi also talked about his government’s infrastructure push and the use of technology for coordination among different departments for various infrastructure projects.

“India is investing over INR 100 Tn in infrastructure over the next few years. The number of stakeholders in any infra project is huge. Traditionally, in India, big projects were often delayed. Exceeding expenses and extending timelines used to be common. But now, we have the Gati Shakti shared platform. The central government, state governments, district administrations, different departments can coordinate,” he said.

The prime minister also said that technology has helped India fight various obstacles over the last few years. India ran the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccine drive which happened through the tech-based platform called CoWIN, he noted. 

He also talked about the reforms undertaken by the government across sectors and the efforts to improve the business environment in the country, and pitched India as an investment destination for the world.

“India is no more a place known for red tape. It is known for red carpet for investors, whether it is FDI reforms or liberalisation of drone rules, or steps in the semiconductor sector or the production incentive schemes in various sectors, or the rise of ease of doing business,” Modi added.

While the prime minister inaugurated the Bengaluru Tech Summit through a virtual address, the event witnessed physical presence of delegates from across the world and industries. It was attended by Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, state’s Minister for Electronics, IT, Higher Education Dr C. N. Ashwath Narayan, Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, among others.

The three-day event in Bengaluru will also see the presence of MoS for IT and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath, among others.