As the United States looks to transform the federal government - with figures such as billionaire Elon Musk playing a pivotal role in governance - the question arises: does India need a fresh tech intervention of its own?
For Infosys co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani, the answer isn’t about launching something entirely new—it’s about recognising the transformation that has already taken place.
“Over the last 15 years, we’ve achieved a lot—1.3 billion Aadhaar enrollments, 80 million daily authentications, 700 million new bank accounts, mobile connectivity, Jio’s rapid acquisition of customers, direct cash transfers worth hundreds of billions, UPI, etc. This transformation happened without being confrontational. The difference is in approach,” Nilekani said.
He was in conversation with Nalin Mehta, Managing Editor, Moneycontrol during a session at AIMA in New Delhi on February 21.
The Silicon Valley model often thrives on disruption and industry shake-ups. Instead, India’s approach has been more foundational. Nilekani’s emphasis on a ‘non-confrontational’ view suggests India’s next big tech leap may follow the same philosophy as Aadhaar and UPI.
Speaking on the new AI startup – China’s DeepSeek - that has disrupted leading players of the global ecosystem, Nilekani said, “What DeepSeek has done is that they have shown that you don’t need billions of dollars to create a reasonably good large language model. That’s a big breakthrough.”
The barrier to entry of creating AI models has significantly come down, Nilekani said, pointing towards the latest trend in AI. “The government is focused on the India AI Mission and I think we will see in the next one year, some very significant models coming from India,” Nilekani added.
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