Vaishnaw: India's pragmatism will pay off amid global shifts

Mumbai: India's pragmatic approach of prioritising national interests over ideology in trade talks will ensure resilience amid geopolitical shifts, union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

At a fireside chat at the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence, Vaishnaw said, "India will emerge stronger from these geopolitical shifts due to our pragmatic approach. We are not ideologically driven but focused on what is best for the country". On talks for a trade deal with US, he said that India will come out strong as the trade relationship with the U.S. is largely complementary. "We conducted a study of all Harmonized System (HS) code lines and found significant synergies," he said.

Vaishnaw urged industry leaders to invest in development of 25-30 products. "For example, in consumer products such as mobile manufacturing, companies are designing and manufacturing capital goods domestically. Can IT firms invest in foundational AI models or develop our own mobile operating system? If industry takes one step forward, the govt will take ten steps to support them," he said.

He laid out the agenda across the five key layers of AI-chips, foundational models, applications, data center & hyperscaler layer, and talent. By the end of the year, the country will have three indigenous AI models, while a domestically developed GPU is expected within the next three to four years. India has also launched a 14,000-GPU common compute facility, exceeding its initial target of 10,000 and ensuring wider access to AI resources through a public-private partnership. Unlike other regions where computing power is concentrated among a few players, India aims for inclusivity. "The future of AI must be democratised, and India is leading the way," he said.

Vaishnaw said the country was seeing a reversal of brain drain. "Professionals like Dr. Randhir Thakur (Tata Electronics MD & CEO) have returned to lead our semiconductor initiatives. The startup ecosystem has transformed-India is now among the top three startup nations. A decade ago, startups were a rarity. Today, entrepreneurs take risks, and we see innovation thriving," he said. On climate protection, he said the country has already secured 4,000 megawatts of green power, with 7,000 megawatts in the pipeline. "We are on track to meet our sustainability goals," he said.

On the railways, Vaishnaw said the govt has invested Rs 1.14 lakh cr annually. "Ten years ago, India recorded 171 railway accidents per year; today, that number has dropped to 30. While this is progress, we continue to improve," he said. The railways are integrating technology for track inspections, scheduling maintenance more efficiently, and working with startups to develop innovative solutions. The fourth version of the Kavach automatic train protection system was approved and certified and is being rolled out.

Vaishnaw said India's railways have undergone a major transformation over the past decade, with 45,000 km of tracks electrified-more than twice the progress made in the first 60 years of independence. He noted that 34,000 km of new tracks have been laid, exceeding Germany's entire network, and that India now produces 1,500 locomotives annually.


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