India advances Techade push as deep tech startups and AI reshape industry

India's technology sector is moving decisively into advanced engineering, semiconductors and artificial intelligence, powered by deliberate state support and a growing pool of patient capital.

The shift marks a major transition for the country's startup ecosystem. Where Indian venture capital once concentrated on consumer apps, fintech and quick delivery services, founders and investors are increasingly directing funds into foundational technologies, including robotics, advanced materials and space exploration.

What happened in space and deep technology

A defining marker of that progress came on 18 July, when the Vikram-1 rocket developed by Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace launched from Sriharikota. The vehicle placed customer satellites into orbit 450 kilometres above Earth, making India only the third country, alongside the United States and China, where a private aerospace enterprise has successfully achieved orbital spaceflight.

Speaking at the ET Startup Awards 2026, Times Internet chairman Satyan Gajwani noted that the achievement reflects a maturing ecosystem backed by structural regulatory reforms and public funding. Under the flagship Startup India initiative, the tally of recognised startups across the country has surged from a few hundred to more than 250,000, generating nearly 2.5 million jobs. Central support has also provided long-term backing through a dedicated Rs 10,000 crore Fund of Funds aimed at new-age industrial sectors.

Gajwani credited the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, headed by Piyush Goyal, with championing policy frameworks that encourage high-risk, research-intensive ventures. While acknowledging that India still faces ground to make up against the US and China in artificial intelligence and computing infrastructure, he maintained that the country's demonstrated capability to launch private orbital rockets proves its engineers can deliver proprietary AI systems for the world.

How artificial intelligence is altering tech work

At the same time, the rapid rise of enterprise AI is recalibrating India's vast software and services workforce. At the Project Management South Asia Conference in Bengaluru on 3 October, IBM India board member and managing partner at IBM Consulting Usha Srikanth explained how generative systems have radically streamlined standard coding tasks.

"Three years back, all that we bothered about was building the code, and the code building was 60% of our programme. Today, code building is 10% of our programme," Srikanth said, citing work with a major global airline.

The change arrives amid broader shifts across global tech firms, which have registered more than 100,000 job cuts worldwide in 2026 as resources reallocate towards automated infrastructure. Within India's domestic services sector, the premium has moved away from routine manual programming toward what Srikanth termed human "power skills": critical reasoning, domain knowledge and contextual judgement.

Srikanth cautioned organisations against treating automated output as infallible, pointing out that human oversight remains the deciding factor in enterprise software. Instead of replacing workers, she argued, artificial intelligence serves best as an assistant, enabling Indian professionals to focus on higher-value systems architecture, operational oversight and genuine innovation.