Where technology ambition meets capital crunch

India’s technology sector stands at a critical inflection point— flush with talent, buzzing with innovation, but still searching for the capital and policy vision to match its ambition.

- Staff Writer

These themes came alive at the Bengaluru chapter of the Mint Leadership Dialogues 2025, where a panel of industry veterans, investors, and technologists debated on India’s tech moment.

Asked to describe India’s technology moment in a single word—breakout, balancing act, or crossroads— the answers reflected both optimism and frustration.

T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman of Aarin Capital Partners, chose crossroads. “There are three things required to be a great tech power — human capital, physical capital, financial capital,” he said. “We have the human capital. We have the physical capital in terms of data centres coming up. We don’t have the financial capital.

He reeled off the numbers. “In the last 10 years—2014 to 2024— the US invested $2.35 trillion in venture and startups. China put in $845 billion, we did only $160 billion, out of which maybe 70% came from overseas. So, where is the capital? We have a lot of exciting innovations happening on the edge, but they need dollops of capital to grow and tackle the global markets.”

Sudhir Sethi, founder and chairman of Chiratae Ventures, agreed. “We see a lot of people... these are in AI, semiconductor, space, electronics etc. They have new product, new technology, new GTM—everything is new,” he said. “But if I look at the amount of capital which goes into this—and this is risk capital—we are still dependent on international capital. In the last five years, we have seen $300 billion invested, and I don’t believe more than 10% is from India.”