India possesses the talent to build any technology in the world, according to Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Institute Professor at IIT Madras and Chairman of IIIT Hyderabad and the ITEL Foundation. He stressed that the nation must now back its young entrepreneurs to achieve complete technological self-reliance.

While established domestic industry traditionally remains risk-averse, young startup founders are stepping up as genuine risk-takers capable of driving national transformation, he said while speaking at a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO, YourStory and The Bharat Project at TechSparks 2026, YourStory’s annual summit.

He, however, believes that converting this vast potential into global leadership requires fixing a structural flaw in technical education while redirecting innovation towards practical, local challenges.

Highlighting a glaring paradox in the national ecosystem, Jhunjhunwala noted that while Indian engineers routinely develop sophisticated software and technologies, the country continues to import almost every physical product.

“In the last 20 years or so, you're finding that in India, we can pretty much develop all technologies, and yet we import pretty much every product,” observed Prof. Jhunjhunwala, a recipient of the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in India.

A primary bottleneck is that engineering colleges prioritising examination preparation over practical product development. Reflecting on his own academic journey, Jhunjhunwala emphasised that higher education should teach students how to learn continuously throughout their lives. Much of real learning takes place through peer interaction outside traditional classrooms, yet university curricula remain overburdened with theoretical coursework.

To foster genuine creativity, Jhunjhunwala advocated discarding half of the current curriculum to make room for hands-on creation.

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