At the CEO Roundtable titled “Charting India’s Telecom Vision: A Leadership Dialogue,” 37 industry leaders explored strategies to strengthen India’s digital infrastructure. Shri Scindia emphasized that the telecom sector is critical for the nation’s 1.4 billion citizens, acting as a backbone for economic inclusion and innovation.
He highlighted India’s domestic manufacturing capabilities in critical telecom equipment, with the 5G rollout powered largely by indigenously produced systems. The Minister introduced the DSS strategy—Design in India, Solve in India, Scale from India—as a framework to enhance global competitiveness while fostering local innovation. He urged companies to co-develop standards, invest in intellectual property, and focus on sustainable, scalable solutions tailored for India.
Empowering Startups and Unicorns
Later at the “Nation Builders Summit,” Shri Scindia engaged directly with startups and unicorn founders, emphasizing the country’s transformation from a services-led economy to a vertically integrated hub for digital innovation and manufacturing. Highlighting the growth of India’s startup ecosystem to over 180,000 startups and 100+ unicorns, he noted that innovation now extends beyond metros to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
The Minister stressed gender equity in entrepreneurship, celebrating over 73,000 women-led startups. He called for active participation of all citizens, particularly women, to ensure India transitions successfully from Amrit Kaal to Shatabdi Kaal, aiming for a strong, inclusive economy by 2047.
India’s Digital Growth and Global Ambitions
Shri Scindia highlighted India’s rise as the third-largest digital nation, with 1.2 billion mobile subscribers, 974 million Internet users, and 944 million broadband connections. With 46% of the world’s digital transactions processed via UPI totaling $3 trillion annually, India has built a robust digital public infrastructure empowering millions of citizens.
He emphasized that government initiatives like Startup India, Digital India, and the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) have catalyzed innovation across sectors such as AI, agritech, healthtech, and deeptech, supporting scalable solutions that address real-world challenges.
IMC 2025: Showcasing Leadership and Collaboration
IMC 2025 served as a platform for convergence of government policy, corporate leadership, and startup innovation. Both the CEO Roundtable and Nation Builders Summit highlighted India’s ambition to establish itself not just as a digital economy leader, but also as a global hub for innovation, deeptech, and telecom manufacturing. Shri Scindia’s message was clear: India is ready to design, solve, and scale globally while fostering inclusive growth at home.