Experts highlight India's significant market potential for assistive technologies, estimated at Rs 75,000-95,000 crore by 2030. They advocate for a National Assistive Technology Policy to address current gaps in access and service delivery, fostering inclusion, independence, and economic participation for persons with disabilities and the elderly.
An innovation roadmap, a mechanism to double annual bilateral trade within next five years, and a joint artificial intelligence framework were among 13 outcomes to emerge from wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.
Deloitte India has partnered with IIT Bombay to launch a Quantum Technology Centre, aiming to accelerate quantum adoption, research, and enterprise use-cases for Indian businesses.
Bajaj Finserv announced a strategic initiative to invest up to Rs 2,000 crore in artificial intelligence and technology-led startups over the next five years, along with a collaboration with IIT-Bombay for joint research.
'Policy consistency combined with timely and calibrated reforms are expected to ensure that India not only maintains macroeconomic stability, but also emerges as a globally competitive and inclusive economy.'
Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan urges Indian startups to focus on deep technology and advanced manufacturing to ensure strategic autonomy.
Brokerage Bernstein has warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India risks squandering recent economic gains unless it accelerates structural reforms, particularly in jobs, manufacturing and innovation.
'Our problem is not a budget deficit but a trust deficit. We need to trust our institutions and industries to innovate and lead. That is the way forward for India.'
India Inc on Sunday hailed the Union Budget 2026-27 as a 'structural shift' in the country's technology landscape, noting that the government is moving beyond fragmented pilots to build foundational layers where AI serves as a 'horizontal enabler' for the entire economy.
Delhi LG Taranjit Singh Sandhu addressed the Global Confluence 2026, emphasising the importance of maintaining a human element at the heart of digital nation-building. He highlighted India's digital transformation and the role of technology in improving lives, while urging a focus on inclusive development and national security.
Budget 2026 is an intentional and ambitious one - From manufacturing growth to services supremacy, from technology consumption to AI-powered transformation. This is the blueprint for a $7 trillion economy built on intelligence, not just scale.
In a region increasingly shaped by competition and coercion, such collaboration strengthens security without confrontation, builds capacity without dependency and promotes order without domination, points out Dr Kumar.
While many areas compete for resources, defence, education, and adaptation deserve focus for maximum impact, suggests Laveesh Bhandari.
Budget 2025 lays down a transformational roadmap for India's digital and economic future, focusing on AI-driven enterprise modernisation, workforce skilling, and sustainable innovation. With bold investments in AI, digital infrastructure, and ease of doing business, the government has set the stage for businesses to scale, innovate and compete on a global level.
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
'The heat shield technology for re-entry vehicles was first mastered in DRDO for the Agni missile.' 'This is why the Americans were so opposed to Agni in the 1980s, unlike other missiles -- it was a re-entry vehicle.'
The IOA president maintained the conference will serve as a platform where global expertise meets Indian innovation through discussion on urban transformation, technological advancements, sustainability and inclusive governance.
The Centre is regularly holding consultations with stakeholders to streamline foreign direct investments (FDIs) and foreign institutional investments (FIIs) related processes to enable faster and more efficient investment flows into the country, said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, adding one such meeting with stakeholders was held on Tuesday.
Google plans to invest $15 billion over the next five years in setting an artificial intelligence hub in Visakhapatnam, a senior official of the company said on Tuesday.
Several leading scientists, academicians, and agriculturalists have called for raising government support for research and development to make Indian agriculture future-ready.
'Despite being a software powerhouse, we're not producing proportionate original IP, frameworks, or global tech products originating in India.'
For India to transform into a high-income country with a projected gross domestic product (GDP) of $23-35 trillion, will need a sustained annual growth of 8 per cent to 10 per cent. This will be powered by India's demographic dividend, technological innovation, and sectoral transformation, according to the "India@2047: Transforming India Into A Tech-Driven Economy" report by Bain & Company and Nasscom. By 2047, the services sector is expected to contribute 60 per cent of India's GDP, while manufacturing will account for 32 per cent, both playing a pivotal role in economic expansion.
Despite the alarming figures on job displacement, AI is expected to generate millions of new roles, echoing historical trends of technological transformation.
Let's work flat out and create a policy framework that fosters the growth of Indian non-family business VC and private equity firms. This will allow our Indian startups' dreams to flourish, explains Ajit Balakrishnan.
Simplifying investment policies at the micro level and introducing a time-bound framework will be critical for India's growth targets, notes Krishna Ella.
'The scrapping of import duty would help Indian companies compete in international markets, thus paving the way for India becoming a space manufacturing hub for the world.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget proposals lay out a comprehensive road map for transforming India into a developed nation, focusing on key priorities that aim to generate ample opportunities for all citizens in "Viksit Bharat". It sets the stage for sustained economic growth, social development, and technological advancement.
An improvement in political relations, anchored in a restoration of peace and tranquillity at the border, could open up opportunities for expanded economic and commercial relations between them, suggests former foreign secretary Ambassador Shyam Saran.
Chandrayaan-4 will involve at least two separate launches of the heavylift LVM-3 rocket that will carry five different components of the mission which will be assembled in orbit.
Can we make high speed 4G Internet available at 10 cents per GB, and make all voice calls free of cost -- that too in a large and diverse country like India? Can we make high-quality but simple breast cancer screening available to every woman, that too at the extremely affordable cost of $1 per scan? Can we make a portable, high-tech ECG machine which can provide reports immediately and that too at the cost of 8 cents a test? Can we make an eye imaging device that is portable, non-invasive and costs 3 times less that conventional devices? Can we make a robust test for mosquito-borne dengue, which can detect the disease on day 1, and that too at the cost of $2 per test? Amazingly, says Dr R A Mashelkar, the eminent scientist, all this has been achieved in India, not only by using technological innovation but also non-technological innovation.
'Three manufacturing sectors can create jobs by the million: Apparel, food, and electronic assembly.' 'Let's talk to them and ask them what it would take to scale by a factor of ten,' suggests Naushad Forbes.
The growing decline of MTech applicants in Indian colleges is due to multiple factors, including outdated curricula, poor return on investment and lucrative non-engineering alternatives, say experts.
'Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to strive to realise Gandhiji's dreams. His watchwords, truth and nonviolence, will continue to remain relevant for the whole world. He also taught us that rights and duties are but the two sides of the coin - indeed, the true source of rights is duty. Today we recall his lessons in compassion too - compassion not only for our human neighbours but also for our other neighbours, namely, flora and fauna, rivers and mountains.'
While this will incur a revenue loss amounting to 0.2 per cent of GDP, it will provide a strong boost to consumer sentiment and spending, points out Rajani Sinha.
The development of private data sources is a hugely positive development. It should serve as a challenge to the government to improve its own record on producing timely and reliable statistics, points out T N Ninan.
Ideas don't have border controls and visas.
The generation of quality jobs and skill development should be the focal point, cutting across ministries and departments, asserts Nivedita Mookerji.
Get more people working, get more people working in modern manufacturing and services in our cities, and get people working better and longer, suggests Naushad Forbes, past president, CII.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
'Imagine taking care of a patient who is infected with Covid. A human nurse is unable to do that due to fear of infection. The robot can do that task, while it is controlled or supervised by the human nurse. So the robot becomes an extension of the nurse.'
