Mumbai Tech Week 2025 -

Insights and Key Takeaways

This document summarizes key insights and discussions from Mumbai Tech
Week 2025, focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impact across
various sectors in India.

Day 1: Setting the Stage for AI in India

1. AI for Governance and Progress: Maharashtra’s Vision

Guest Speaker: Devendra Fadnavis (Chief Minister of Maharashtra)

• AI as a Catalyst for Governance and Progress: Mr. Fadnavis

highlighted the transformative potential of AI for improving governance
and driving progress in Maharashtra and India.
• Museum of Entrepreneurship: Announcement of a new Museum of
Entrepreneurship in Mumbai, signifying the state’s commitment to
fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Aaple Sarkar Chatbot & Meta Partnership: Launch of the “Aaple
Sarkar” (Our Government) chatbot in partnership with Meta. This
initiative aims to enhance citizen access to government services and
information through AI-powered conversational interfaces.
• 1400 Government Use Cases for AI: Maharashtra has identified a
significant number of potential applications of AI within government
operations, showcasing a proactive approach to AI adoption in public
services.
• Mumbai’s AI Enterprise Spending: Mumbai is a major hub for AI
investment, with enterprises in the city spending $500 million on AI
technologies. This underscores the strong industry adoption of AI in the
region.
• Data Center Hub: Maharashtra hosts 50% of India’s data centers,
highlighting the state’s infrastructure readiness to support the growing
AI ecosystem which requires significant computational power and data
storage.

Guest Speaker: Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Union Minister of State for

Electronics and Information Technology)

• Youth-Driven Innovation: Mr. Chandrasekhar emphasized the role of

young people in driving AI innovation, suggesting they will challenge
established norms and approaches in the field.
• Governance as the Prime AI Application: Reinforced the idea that
governance will be the most impactful application area for AI, echoing
Mr. Fadnavis’s vision.
 • Open Source AI Advocacy: Stated a strong belief that AI development
should be open source. This suggests a push for democratization of AI
technology and wider accessibility for developers and researchers.

2. AI in Banking and Financial Services (BFSI)

Guest Speaker: V Vaidyanathan (MD & CEO, IDFC FIRST Bank)

• AI in Banking: Focus specifically on the applications and implications

of AI within the banking sector. (Details of his specific points are
missing in the notes, but the topic is clearly defined).

Guest Speakers: Dilip Asbe (MD & CEO, NPCI) & Ashish Chauhan
(MD & CEO, NSE)

• AI in BFSI - Broader Perspective: Expanded the discussion to the

broader BFSI sector, encompassing stock markets and payment
systems.
• High-Frequency Trading & AI: Explained the massive scale of
operations in stock markets, with millions of orders processed per
second. AI is crucial for both executing trades at this speed and for
supervising and monitoring these complex trading activities.
• Localized Cloud & On-Premise AI: Advocated for localized cloud
infrastructure for AI, particularly for sensitive sectors like finance. This
highlights concerns around data security and sovereignty when using
public cloud providers for critical financial data.
• India Moving Beyond AI Consumption: Acknowledged that India
has primarily been a consumer of AI technologies but is now poised to
become a significant contributor, particularly through open source
initiatives.
• NSE’s Open Source AI Strategy: The National Stock Exchange (NSE)
is actively using open source AI models to develop on-premise
solutions. This is driven by the need to maintain confidentiality of
sensitive financial data, which cannot be shared with external cloud
providers.
• NPCI’s UPI Transaction Analysis: The National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) utilizes AI models to analyze every
transaction on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. This
indicates the scale of AI application in monitoring and managing India’s
vast digital payment ecosystem.
• Bhashini Stack Integration: NPCI leverages the Bhashini stack,
developed by IIT Madras, suggesting a commitment to using indigenous
AI technologies and supporting local innovation. Bhashini focuses on
language translation and technologies for Indian languages.
3. AI Platforms, Tools, and Investment Landscape

Guest Speakers: Sandhya Devanathan (VP India, Meta) & Hemant

Mohapatra (Partner, Lightspeed India)

• Meta’s AI Initiatives: Showcased Meta’s AI tools and platforms,

including:
◦ Code Copilots & CodeLlama: AI-powered tools for code
generation and assistance, aimed at improving developer
productivity.
◦ AI for Content Moderation: Meta utilizes AI to detect and
remove harmful content on its platforms, highlighting the crucial
role of AI in platform safety and responsibility.
◦ Llama for Startups: Meta’s Llama models empower startups and
small teams, potentially through open access or partnerships,
fostering innovation in the AI ecosystem.
• “Dogfooding” AI Tools: Emphasized the practice of AI teams using
their own tools internally to improve and refine them, a common
practice in tech development.
• AI Investment Spectrum: Categorized AI investment opportunities
across a spectrum:
◦ “Absolute Left” - Foundational AI Infrastructure: This
includes power companies, data centers, and foundational model
companies. Characterized as high investment, long-term returns,
and potentially challenging to monetize initially but highly
investable in the long run.
◦ “Absolute Right” - AI Consulting: Represented by companies
like PwC, focusing on AI consulting services. This end of the
spectrum offers more immediate revenue generation through
service-based models.
◦ “Middle Ground” - Vertical AI Applications: This category
includes app layer companies building specific AI-powered
applications for various industries. A balance between
infrastructure and consulting, potentially offering a faster path to
market and revenue than foundational models.

4. Venture Capital Perspective on AI Startups

Guest Speakers: Anuvrat Jain (Partner, Lightspeed), Akash Kumar

(Partner, Z47), Akanksha Hazari (Founder & CEO, LoveLocal)

• Importance of Research: Acknowledged the crucial role of research

for driving breakthroughs in AI within India, emphasizing the need for
a strong research ecosystem.
• Revenue Focus for Startups: VCs stressed the importance of a clear
path to revenue for startups, even in deep tech areas like AI. Founders
must demonstrate a business model and potential for monetization.
• SaaS Opportunity in AI: Identified Software as a Service (SaaS) as a
significant growth area in the AI space in the coming years, suggesting
strong potential for AI-powered SaaS solutions.
 • Global AI Benchmarking: Advised startups to aim for building world-
class AI products, not just locally competitive ones. This encourages a
global mindset and ambition in Indian AI startups.
• VC Evaluation Criteria for AI Founders: Outlined key qualities VCs
look for in AI startup founders:
◦ Agency: Proactiveness, drive, and ability to execute.
◦ Taste: Good product sense, understanding of user needs, and
ability to design compelling solutions.
• “Painkiller” Products: VCs are looking for products that address
significant customer pain points and demonstrably improve user
experience through AI.
• Unconventional and Ambitious Teams: VCs are attracted to teams
attempting to solve problems in novel ways, pushing boundaries and
doing things “nobody has done before.”
• Agency & Revenue Focus in Top AI Companies: Reiterated that
successful AI companies exhibit strong agency and are aggressively
pursuing revenue generation. Urged Indian startups to move beyond
excuses and focus on execution and monetization.

5. Enterprise GenAI Integration Challenges

Guest Speakers: Nitin Bawankule (Director & Head - Technology,

Public Sector, AWS India & South Asia), Vivek Khemani (Country
Head - Developer Relations, AWS India & South Asia)

• Challenges in Enterprise GenAI Adoption: Highlighted common

hurdles faced by enterprises when integrating Generative AI (GenAI):
◦ Quantifiable ROI: Demonstrating a clear return on investment
for GenAI projects is a major challenge, with only a small
percentage (5-6%) of integrations successfully proving ROI.
◦ Model Selection: Choosing the right AI model for a specific use
case is complex, requiring careful evaluation of model capabilities
and suitability.
◦ Data Security & Control: Maintaining data security and control
when using cloud-based AI models or conventional AI providers is
a critical concern for enterprises, especially with sensitive data.
• Indian Startup Ecosystem Context: Provided context about the
Indian startup landscape:
◦ 150,000+ Registered Startups: India has a large and rapidly
growing startup ecosystem.
◦ Diverse Tech Stacks: Startups utilize a wide range of
technologies, creating a complex environment.
◦ AWS as Leading Cloud Provider: AWS is a dominant cloud
platform in India, indicating its significant role in enabling the tech
ecosystem.
• AWS Support for Startups: Outlined AWS’s initiatives to support
startups:
◦ Business & Tech Support: Providing resources and assistance
for both business and technical aspects of startup development.
 ◦ Educational Information Access: Offering access to learning
materials and training to upskill startup teams in cloud and AI
technologies.
◦ Go-to-Market Support: Helping startups with strategies and
resources for launching and scaling their products in the market.
◦ AWS Credit Programs: Providing financial credits to help
startups access and utilize AWS cloud services.

6. AI Predictions and Future Trends

Guest Speakers: Niki Parmar (Co-founder, Anthropic), Siddharth

Shrinivasan (Co-founder, ElevenLabs), Aryan Sharma (Founder &
CEO, Induced AI), Varun Mayya (Founder & CEO, Avalon Scenes)

• Career Advice for Aspiring AI Professionals: Encouraged

individuals to:
◦ Understand the AI Landscape: Stay informed about
developments and trends in AI.
◦ Utilize Available Tools: Leverage existing AI tools to learn and
experiment.
◦ Domain Expertise: Develop deep knowledge in a specific domain
where AI can be applied.
◦ Proactive Career Pursuit: Actively work towards desired career
paths in AI.
• AI Predictions from Experts: Shared diverse perspectives on the
future of AI:
◦ Aryan Sharma (Induced AI): Slower Pace, Smarter, Smaller
Models: Predicts a shift towards slower but more focused AI
development. Future models will be more intelligent, smaller in
size, faster in processing, and capable of running on edge devices
and mobile phones to solve specific business problems.
◦ Siddharth Shrinivasan (ElevenLabs): Talent Will Shine,
Smaller Teams Powerful: Believes that exceptional talent will
become even more valuable in the AI era. Smaller, highly focused
teams will be able to achieve significant impact, potentially
outperforming larger organizations.
◦ Niki Parmar (Anthropic): Personalized, Self-Learning
Systems: Envisions AI systems becoming highly personalized and
capable of learning tasks independently by observing user actions.
Users will be able to “teach” models by demonstrating desired
behavior. Current models lack orchestration and planning
capabilities at a sub-task level, which is an area for future
development.
• Personal AI Companions: Niki Parmar highlighted the potential of
personal AI companions, especially those with memory and task
management capabilities, as a significant future trend.
7. Sovereign AI: India’s Strategic Imperative

Guest Speaker: N Chandrasekaran (Chairman, Tata Sons)

• Inflection Point in History: Emphasized that we are at a pivotal

moment in human history due to the rapid advancements in AI.
• Simultaneous Global Tech Growth: Highlighted the unique nature of
current technological progress, where breakthroughs are occurring
globally and concurrently across various industries, unlike previous
technology diffusion patterns.
• Sovereign AI - Independence, Not Isolation: Defined Sovereign AI
for India not as isolationism or building everything from scratch, but as
achieving independence in AI capabilities. This includes establishing
the infrastructure, talent, and data resources to develop, deploy, and
utilize AI tailored to India’s needs and data.
• Pillars of Sovereign AI:
◦ Technological Sovereignty: Developing indigenous AI
technologies and capabilities.
◦ Data Sovereignty: Maintaining control and security over India’s
data assets.
◦ Talent Sovereignty: Building a strong domestic AI talent pool
through education, research, and development.

Day 2: AI’s Impact on Work,

Entrepreneurship, and Specific Sectors
8. Reimagining Work and Learning in the AI Era

Guest Speaker: Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED)

• Post-AI World & Job Evolution: Urged a fundamental shift in how we

perceive jobs and goals in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
• Rapid Learning as a Survival Skill: Emphasized the critical need for
rapid learning and adaptation. The ability to master new skills in short
timeframes (less than 24 hours) will be essential for staying relevant in
the job market.
• Democratized Intelligence - AI as a “300 IQ Pet”: Compared AI to
a readily accessible, incredibly intelligent tool. Intelligence is no longer
a scarce resource, empowering individuals to achieve more with AI
assistance.
• Individual Empowerment - 1-Person AI Teams: Suggested that
individuals equipped with AI tools can be as productive as large teams
of the past, highlighting the potential for significant efficiency gains
and individual empowerment.
• Wealth Growth and Efficiency: As AI drives efficiency, the overall
global wealth is expected to increase.
• Potential for Job Displacement and Role Evolution: Acknowledged
the possibility that many existing jobs may become obsolete, requiring
widespread upskilling and reskilling initiatives. Used the analogy of a
 “liftman” for AI, suggesting some roles might become about managing
or assisting AI systems.
• India’s Youth Advantage and AI Adoption: Highlighted India’s
young population and its position as a leading user of AI, presenting a
significant advantage for the country in the AI era.
• AI as a Companion - Emotional Needs: Noted the surprising
statistic that a significant portion of ChatGPT usage (35-40%) is for
seeking companionship and emotional support, indicating a broader
societal impact of AI beyond purely functional applications.
• “Barbell Behavior” in Investments: Predicted a trend towards
“barbell behavior” in investments, with increased focus on both very
high-risk and very risk-averse strategies as the world becomes more
uncertain.
• Coding Cost Reduction: Illustrated the dramatic reduction in the cost
of writing code due to AI tools, from approximately 100 rupees per line
to 0.5 rupees. This signifies a major shift in software development
economics.

9. Entrepreneurial Mindset in the AI Age

Guest Speakers: Sanket Shah (Founder & CEO, InVideo), Sharad

Sanghi (MD & CEO, Neysa), Srikanth Velmakani (Group CEO,
Fractal), Aakrit Shah (Co-founder & CEO, IndiaAI), Dhruvil Sanghvi
(Founder & CEO, LogiNext)

• Problem-First Approach: Advised entrepreneurs to identify problems

first and then explore how AI and technology can be applied to solve
them, rather than starting with a solution and seeking a problem.
• Bold Vision and Ambitious Goals: Encouraged entrepreneurs to set
extremely ambitious goals, pushing beyond perceived limitations. Even
if the ideal outcome isn’t fully achieved, striving for it will lead to
significant progress.
• Embrace Failure and Take Bets: Advocated for a culture of
experimentation and risk-taking. Failure is inevitable, but the
occasional successes will be highly rewarding.
• Differentiation and Unconventional Strategies: Stressed the
importance of finding unique angles to compete and disrupt established
players, attacking from unexpected directions.
• Pursuing “Crazy” Ideas: Encouraged entrepreneurs to pursue ideas
that many others dismiss as impossible or impractical. Challenging
conventional wisdom is often where breakthrough innovations are
found.
• Focus on Building, Not Just Capital: Advised student entrepreneurs
and early-stage founders to prioritize building their product and
demonstrating value, rather than being overly concerned about funding
in the initial stages.
10. AI in Sports and Entertainment

Guest Speakers: Amit Sharma (Co-founder, Dream Sports), Vishal

Misra (Professor, Columbia Engineering)

• AI-Powered Sports Platforms: Highlighted Dream11 as an example

of a massive sports platform (200 million+ users) heavily reliant on AI
and Machine Learning (ML).
• Personalization through ML: Every user interaction on Dream11 is
personalized using ML models, demonstrating the power of AI in
enhancing user engagement and experience in entertainment.
• AI for Immersive Sports Experiences: Proposed innovative use
cases for AI in live sports:
◦ AI-Powered Virtual Stadiums: Creating virtual stadium
experiences that allow fans outside the venue to feel like they are
present at the game.
◦ 360° Views and Immersive Audio: Utilizing 360° cameras and
advanced audio technologies to provide virtual attendees with
views from audience perspectives or even player perspectives.
• AI for Athlete Performance Tracking: Explored the application of AI
in analyzing athlete performance data to improve training, strategy, and
overall athletic development.

11. Model Architectures and Efficiency

Guest Speaker: Manish Gupta (VP, Google DeepMind)

• Matrioshka Models - Query Complexity-Based Model Selection:

Introduced the concept of “Matrioshka Models.” This approach involves
using a hierarchy of AI models, where the complexity of the model used
is dynamically chosen based on the complexity of the query or task.
Simpler queries can be handled by smaller, more efficient models, while
complex queries are processed by larger, more powerful models. This
strategy optimizes resource utilization and efficiency.

12. Entrepreneurship, Investment, and Persistence

Guest Speakers: Ritesh Agarwal (Founder & CEO, OYO), Vijay

Shekhar Sharma (Founder & CEO, Paytm)

• Mumbai as a Business Hub: Acknowledged Mumbai’s importance as

a major consumer market and business center in India, contrasting it
with the higher costs and challenges of building a business in Delhi
(Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s experience).
• Early Investment Stories: Ritesh Agarwal shared his early
entrepreneurial journey, including securing his first investment of 20
Lakh rupees at a 1.5 Crore valuation in Mumbai from a pool of 15 angel
investors. This illustrates the importance of networking and early-stage
funding access in Mumbai.
 • AI Business Opportunities - Infrastructure, Applications, and
Personalization: Vijay Shekhar Sharma outlined three key areas for AI
business exploration:
◦ Infrastructure Layer: Building data centers and related
infrastructure to support the growing AI demand. Highlighted the
massive scale and investment required in this area (gigawatt data
centers, billions of dollars, multi-billion dollar component
industries).
◦ SEO-Driven Industries & Machine-Driven Content
Personalization: Transforming SEO-dependent industries by
using AI to create personalized content experiences for customers
upon reaching online outlets. This could revolutionize customer
acquisition and engagement strategies.
◦ Application Layer (Audio, Video, etc.): Developing AI-powered
applications in various media formats like audio and video,
offering diverse opportunities for innovation and user-facing
products.
• Thiel Fellowship and Unconventional Education: Mentioned the
Thiel Fellowship, which encourages young people to drop out of
university and pursue entrepreneurial ventures, providing $100,000 in
funding. Highlighted the fellowship’s philosophy of prioritizing real-
world learning over traditional university education.
• Persistence and Follow-Up: Ritesh Agarwal emphasized the crucial
trait of persistence for entrepreneurs, particularly in follow-up. Advised
sending numerous emails (30-50) and maintaining persistent
communication to overcome initial lack of response.
• Entrepreneur over Business - Pivotability and Core Qualities:
Ritesh Agarwal stressed that the entrepreneur is more important than
the initial business idea, as businesses can pivot and evolve. Key
qualities VCs look for in early-stage entrepreneurs:
◦ Speed & Clarity of Thought: Rapid decision-making and clear,
logical thinking.
◦ Strong Hold over Numbers: Deep understanding of financial
metrics, even in pre-revenue stages, including cost management.
◦ Bold Vision: Ambitious and inspiring long-term vision for the
venture.

13. AI in Healthcare and Fitness

Guest Speakers: Suniel Shetty (Actor and Investor), Rahul Dravid

(Cricketer, Coach and Captain - Indian Team), Shriram Nene
(Cardiovascular Surgeon), Mayank Kumar (Co-founder, Upgrad)

• Data and Technology for Personal Benefit: General theme of using

data and technology, particularly AI, to improve personal well-being
and outcomes.
• Personalized Fitness through AI: Highlighted how AI is enabling
more personalized and effective fitness regimes, adapting to individual
needs and goals.
• AI for Accessible and Personalized Healthcare: Emphasized AI’s
potential to democratize access to world-class, evidence-based, precise,
 and personalized healthcare. This could address disparities in
healthcare access and quality.
• AI Augments, Doesn’t Replace Human Expertise: Reassured that
AI in healthcare will enhance human expertise, not replace it. AI will
act as a powerful tool for doctors and healthcare professionals.
• “Adding Life to Years”: Framed AI’s role in healthcare as improving
the quality of life and well-being (“adding life to our years”) rather than
simply extending lifespan (“years to our life”).

14. Broader AI Ecosystem Perspectives

Guest Speakers: Vijay Karunamurthy (CEO, Scale AI), Pratyush

Kumar (Co-founder, Sarvam AI), Mukesh Bansal (CEO, Nurix,
Founder Myntra & Cult.fit)

• (Details of specific points for each speaker are missing in the

notes, but their presence indicates a broader discussion on the
AI ecosystem landscape, challenges, and opportunities.)

15. Product, Management, and CEO Journey

Guest Speakers: Rishit Jhunjhunwala (CEO, Truecaller) & Naiyya

Saggi (Co-founder & CEO, Good Glamm Group)

• Career Path - Product to Management to CEO: Rishit Jhunjhunwala

shared his career trajectory, illustrating a common path in tech
leadership, starting in product development, moving into management,
and ultimately becoming CEO.
• Truecaller’s Swedish Roots and Global Expansion: Highlighted
Truecaller’s origins as a Swedish company and its successful global
expansion, including going public in Sweden.
• Efficiency Metric - Employees per Million Users: Shared
Truecaller’s operational efficiency benchmark of maintaining one
employee for every million users, indicating a highly scalable and
efficient business model.
• Problem-Solving Focus Over Tech: Emphasized that users primarily
care about whether a product solves their problem effectively, and are
less concerned about the underlying technology. This underscores the
importance of user-centric product development.

Key Takeaways and Cross-Cutting Themes

from Mumbai Tech Week 2025 (AI Focus)
• AI as a National Priority for India: Strong emphasis across
government and industry leaders on AI as a critical technology for
India’s future progress, economic growth, and global competitiveness.
• Governance and Public Services as Key AI Applications:
Significant focus on using AI to improve governance, enhance citizen
services, and drive efficiency in public sector operations.
• Open Source and Indigenous AI Development: Advocacy for open
source AI development and building indigenous AI capabilities to
ensure technological and data sovereignty for India.
• Data Security and Sovereignty Concerns: Recurring theme of data
security and control, particularly in sensitive sectors like finance and
governance, leading to a preference for localized cloud and on-premise
AI solutions.
• Investment Opportunities Across the AI Spectrum: Diverse
investment opportunities identified across foundational AI
infrastructure, vertical applications, and AI consulting services,
catering to different risk appetites and investment horizons.
• Entrepreneurial Drive and Revenue Focus for AI Startups: VCs
emphasize the need for AI startups to have a strong entrepreneurial
spirit, a clear path to revenue, and a global ambition.
• Importance of Talent and Upskilling: Recognized the critical need
for a skilled AI workforce and the importance of continuous upskilling
and reskilling in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
• AI’s Transformative Impact Across Sectors: Demonstrated AI’s
potential to revolutionize various sectors, including finance, sports,
healthcare, entertainment, and more.
• Ethical Considerations and Responsible AI: (While not explicitly
detailed in notes, likely a subtext) Implicitly, discussions on content
moderation and data security suggest an underlying consideration for
responsible and ethical AI development and deployment.
• Personalization and User Experience Enhancement: AI is seen as a
key enabler of personalized experiences and improved user
engagement across various platforms and applications.