India’s start-ups are not lacking in innovation, but in imagination. Despite a booming start-up ecosystem, India’s tech future is limited by elitism, centralization, and a lack of inclusive vision. Minister Piyush Goyal recently lamented the lack of “real innovation” among Indian start-ups. This triggered a familiar debate on bureaucratic red tape, R&D funding, and brain drain.
India now boasts over 160,000 registered start-ups, more than 1,000 incubators, an ever-expanding Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) that connects Aadhaar with multiple services, and 800 million internet users. Yet, there is a pervasive sense of disappointment regarding the nation’s technological ambitions. India’s elites have reduced innovation to the latest mobile apps or AI enhancements, equating it with Silicon Valley mimicry.
This instrumentalization of start-ups as mere symbols of national pride reflects a deep failure of collective imagination. Initiatives like NITI Aayog’s “R&D Vision 2035” urge India to emulate China’s “DeepTech” frontiers, but such a vision signifies a mindset of catch-up rather than independent, groundbreaking innovation for the public good. Why, despite being the fastest-growing major economy, is India unable to convert its tech potential into global competitiveness?
The narrow social imagination, which privileges a small minority of elites to dictate the rest of India’s techno-futures, is a key reason.
India’s innovation challenges and vision
Outsourcing the work of imagining transformative techno-futures to this small group leaves most Indians out of the conversation, impoverishing the nation’s collective capacity to envision unique techno-futures.
India has centralized its innovation efforts, implementing Startup India’s programmes in small cities through a top-down approach. Over 90% of venture funding goes to a handful of cities. Caste and gender inequalities further exclude the majority of citizens from participating in technological innovation.
The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has recently highlighted India’s inadequate human capital, which is hampering the “Make in India” initiative. India’s existing welfare infrastructure has the potential to enhance innovation outcomes, but needs to be integrated with R&D, industrial policy, and the start-up ecosystem. A report by Blume Ventures categorizes the nation into India 1, 2, and 3, viewing India 2 and 3 as passive recipients of India 1’s offerings.
The capacity to imagine transformative futures must extend beyond an exclusive circle of elite entrepreneurs. India must weave its start-up ecosystem into a broader social and federal framework, moving beyond mimicry of the USA’s Silicon Valley or China’s state-controlled economy. A deep democracy of innovation, responsive to both domestic realities and global challenges, is essential.
Only by involving every Indian — from farmers and gig workers to scientists and engineers — in this process can India forge a unique, inclusive, and globally competitive techno-future.
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