“Things change, politics change, geopolitics play a big role, so we have to constantly calibrate our approach, and we in India are thinking at least 20 years ahead,” Vaishnaw said.
The three-day forum, organised by Bloomberg Media Group, brought together global business and policy leaders to discuss economic and technological challenges. Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins also participated in the discussion, highlighting India's scale and its approach of developing strategic capabilities while collaborating with trusted companies.
Short-, medium- and long-term technology goals
Vaishnaw said the government was working across three time horizons: short-term targets spanning three to five years, medium-term goals covering five to 15 years, and long-term planning extending 20 to 25 years.
The strategy involves identifying dependencies that could expose India's manufacturing capabilities and economy to geopolitical tensions or changes in foreign government policies. At the same time, the country would remain integrated with global value chains, recognising that technology production requires collaboration across multiple countries.
MUST WATCH: Ashwini Vaishnaw Explains India’s Tech Sovereignty Plan: From Chip Design to Manufacturing
Semiconductor ecosystem
The minister highlighted the need to build a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem covering materials, chemicals, gases and substrate materials, alongside chip design and manufacturing. He said the second phase of India's semiconductor programme placed greater emphasis on developing these supporting capabilities, which require sustained investment and time.
“Without ecosystem, no manufacturing effort will ever pay off,” Vaishnaw said.
He cited the mobile phone industry as an example of India's transition from assembling finished products to manufacturing modules and components. India was now producing many components for domestic requirements and had started exporting some to other countries, he said.
Vaishnaw also called for higher research and development spending, with greater emphasis on applied research to translate technological advances into commercially useful capabilities.
ALSO SEE: AI Can Boost Farm Yields By 40%, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw; AI Regulation Paper In A Month
Domestic technological capability
The minister cited the development of India's end-to-end 4G telecom stack through government-private sector collaboration in three-and-a-half years. The system “is deployed on more than 100,000 towers,” he said.
Looking ahead, Vaishnaw warned that technological and financial disruptions could create significant global turbulence. He pointed to artificial intelligence's potential impact on employment, particularly in services, alongside risks associated with debt levels in advanced economies.
“It's going to bring in a much bigger turbulence because by that time AI would have brought in many other disruptions in the employment sector, in the way people, especially the services industries, the way they work, and the debt levels getting unravelled. All those things are going to be extremely difficult times ahead,” he said.
He added that India was working to strengthen its financial, economic and technological resilience. The country's public debt-to-GDP ratio had declined from 61% to 55% over the past five years, he said.
(With ANI inputs)
DO WATCH: ‘AI is mother of all technologies’: S. Jaishankar on AI regulation, access and everyday impact