Can India Build AI Companies? | Rajesh Venkatesan on India’s AI Opportunity

Can India actually build globally competitive AI companies? At the FICCI Digital Disruption & Transformation Summit, this question took centre stage: what will it take for India to move from being an AI consumer to becoming an AI builder? The discussion explores the real barriers to building AI companies in India — from access to capital and compute, to research, deeptech, startups, commercialisation and the confidence to build. The panel brings together perspectives from across the AI ecosystem, including Manu Iyer of Bluehill VC, Atul of Convin.ai, and Dr. Chandra of Veltech TBI, with insights from Hotfoot’s journey towards becoming an AI-led company. Key themes discussed: • Is capital really the constraint for Indian AI startups? • What do India’s AI compute and government initiatives mean for builders? • What changed with the June export controls on frontier AI models? • How can India bridge the gap between academia, research and commercialisation? • What does it take to build AI products at radically lower costs? • What can Indian companies do to move from product-led to AI-led? A conversation about what India needs to do next — and whether the country is ready to build its own AI companies. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #IndiaAI #AIStartups #DeepTech #FICCI