Focus on startups and technologies the world truly needs: Nivruti Rai

Indian entrepreneurs and investors must focus on startups and technologies that serve the most pressing needs of the world to ensure continued investments into India and prevent funding winters, Nivruti Rai, managing director of Invest India said.

“I do see that's a funding winter. I do see the availability of dry powder. And I do see a gap in the tech in areas where the world is investing a lot in - whether it is their startups or their R&D,” Rai said at the Mint India Investment Summit 2024. “So, I really feel the onus is on us to look at how do we drive more of those startups that the world is hungry for.”

Rai drew parallels to the case of American chip makers Intel and Nvidia to drive her point. The former was valued at around $120 billion a decade ago, while Nvidia had a market capitalization of just $10 billion, she said. Today, Intel is around $186 billion, while Nvidia has shot up to over $2.2 trillion.

What happened in the intervening decade was that the world’s need for parallel computing went through the roof, whether it was for graphics, media or artificial intelligence, she said, catapulting the valuations of Nvidia. Similarly, today, India needs to leverage connectivity, battery technology and data storage for use cases that generate better economics and a better quality of life to attract capital in the long run, she explained.

Incidentally, Rai worked at Intel for three decades before joining Invest India last July. In her last role at Intel, she was the company's India head.

Rai recalls that when she was given the charge at Invest India, the brief given to her was simple – bring investment, improve trade, and drive research and development.

However, she took it upon herself to add return on investment for investors as a key responsibility.

“Because for me, the best brand ambassadors are the ones who get good returns on investment, who get a good experience. So, rather than me marketing myself on my country, I'd let the guys market us,” she said.

Invest India promotes and facilitates foreign investment in India. It is overseen by the Union commerce ministry's department of industrial policy & promotion.

The sectors which have found a lot of investor interest include manufacturing, infrastructure, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and technology, Rai said.

“Services continue to be an important part of foreign investment coming into India. Some of the other sectors are manufacturing - be it for industry, for agriculture, or pharmaceuticals, manufacturing is something which is growing,” she said.

Speaking about the opportunities in India, Rai said: “India is 1.4 billion data producing factories which is the raw material for AI. The momentum is there, the velocity is there. The promise is acceleration. We have to drive the acceleration. The government is an enabler.”

Sharing an anecdote on the government enabling ease of doing business, she said on a recent visit to the US, a company made a case to her that a certain policy was leading to a big opportunity loss for India. Rai reached out to India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal with the issue, and she said the latter resolved it within 36 hours.

“I made one call to our commerce minister, and he gave me an ETA of 36 hours. And we got it done,” she said.