Hello everyone, welcome to The India Opportunity Show where you get a front-row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators, and successful leaders from different fields to bring you real-life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.
Episode 4, Season 5 of The India Opportunity Show is out now! You can watch it on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
India Did Not Leapfrog. It Pole-Vaulted.
India went from 155th in the world to No. 1 in mobile data consumption after Jio.
Dr. R.A. Mashelkar’s description of that shift is simple: India did not leapfrog. It pole-vaulted.
On this episode of The India Opportunity, I sit down with Dr. Raghunath Anant Mashelkar, former Director General of CSIR, former Director of the National Chemical Laboratory, and the man who chaired Reliance’s Innovation Council.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, he has worked at the intersection of science, industry and national policy — with one consistent belief: Indian talent can build world-class innovation from India.
In this conversation, we discuss what India must get right to compete in AI and deep tech, why capital alone does not determine innovation, how institutions learn to think bigger, and what he observed inside Reliance’s culture of ambition.
Key Takeaways
India can win without outspending the world
The challenge is not matching US tech giants dollar for dollar, but finding smarter innovation models.
Pole-vaulting can be more powerful than leapfrogging
Jio showed how technology, scale and affordability can rapidly reshape an entire market.
Institutions can learn to become globally ambitious
At NCL, the journey went from zero US patents to licensing Indian technology to General Electric.
There are multiple ways to acquire technology
Dr. Mashelkar lays out five routes — and why India must get better at creating, not just importing.
Moonshots need both ambition and execution
He shares a framework for turning seemingly impossible ideas into national or institutional missions.
Failure is part of innovation
One of his favourite reframes: failure can simply be a “first attempt in learning.”
Culture matters as much as capital
His years inside Reliance gave him a front-row seat to how bold thinking compounds inside an organisation.
Affordable innovation could be one of India’s biggest advantages
From diagnostics to healthcare devices, India has the ability to build dramatically lower-cost solutions at scale.
Chapters
0:00 — Intro
1:33 — Can India win in AI without billions to spend?
3:55 — How Jio pole-vaulted India to No. 1 in mobile data
8:08 — Where does India really stand in research and AI?
21:56 — Has Indian industry’s mindset changed since the 80s?
38:13 — A framework for moonshot ideas
45:41 — Inside the Reliance Jio boardroom
47:53 — Can we all think like Mukesh Ambani?
If you’re a founder, investor, student or builder thinking about India’s next decade of innovation, this conversation is a masterclass in ambition, science and institution-building.