India’s transition to a developed economy will be driven by entrepreneurs who integrate advanced technology with industrial discipline, according to young business leaders speaking at the FICCI’s 98th AGM and Annual Convention.
The panel discussion with young business leaders, titled ‘The Role of Next-Gen Enterprises in Advancing the Vision of Viksit Bharat’, brought together founders and executives from sectors spanning renewable energy, supply chain technology, advanced materials and drone manufacturing to outline how their ventures are contributing to India’s economic transformation.
Alok Kshirsagar, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, who moderated the session, said the entrepreneurs demonstrated “incredible ambition” in their ability to innovate at scale whilst building robust business models that attract long-term capital from domestic and international investors. “Founders and entrepreneurs will propel India’s economic growth,” he said.
Devansh Jain, executive director of INOXGFL Group, emphasised that India’s growth trajectory would be shaped by integration, scale and technological confidence. “At INOXGFL, our focus is simple — build what India needs for the next decade: reliable renewable solutions and globally competitive advanced materials,” Jain said. “As India accelerates its clean-energy and manufacturing ambitions, we hope to be a catalyst for India’s growth story. With industry and government working in sync, India can convert its potential into global leadership across new-energy technologies.”
The discussion highlighted supply chain resilience as a critical opportunity for Indian enterprises. Rahul Garg, founder and chief executive of Moglix, argued that as global production shifts, India has a genuine opportunity to become a stable anchor in diversified supply chains. “The entrepreneurs who stay disciplined, use AI to solve real problems, and remain rooted in industry realities will set the tone for how far we advance,” Garg said.
Several speakers stressed the importance of research and development infrastructure for achieving developed-economy status. Shreevar Kheruka, managing director of Borosil Limited, said the dream of Viksit Bharat would be determined as much in laboratories as on factory floors. “Science and technology are no longer support functions for the economy. They are the drivers,” Kheruka said. “The breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, clean energy and materials science happening today will define global leadership for decades to come.”
He called for treating research and innovation as national priorities, including building advanced research infrastructure, funding curiosity-led projects even without immediate commercial applications, and creating an environment where top scientists choose to work in India rather than abroad.
The deep technology sector emerged as a particular area of interest. Ankit Mehta, co-founder and chief executive of IdeaForge Technology, said India’s journey would be shaped by enterprises that “build with purpose and engineer with depth”. He pointed to progress in India’s drone ecosystem as evidence that the country can design, manufacture and deploy world-class technology domestically. “When such capabilities are trusted in critical national missions, it signals a shift; India is not just adopting advanced technology, we are creating it, scaling it and shaping its global future,” Mehta said.
