On October 9, 2025, Union Minister of Communications Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia led discussions at the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025 to advance India's telecom vision. The event highlighted India's digital revolution and its aim to become a global telecom export hub through design-solve-scale strategies. Discussions involved government, CEOs, startups, and unicorn founders collaborating on Bharat-centric, AI-powered solutions to drive inclusive growth and global competitiveness.
Shri Scindia emphasized the telecom sector's pivotal role in India's digital economy, highlighting the success of Digital India driven by innovation and government facilitation. India is undergoing a transformative shift in its telecom sector, focusing on domestic manufacturing and R&D, with self-sufficiency in critical telecom products and the 5G rollout powered by indigenous equipment.
Shri Scindia addressed the Nation Builders Summit, noting India's transformation from a services-led economy to a global powerhouse for digital innovation and advanced manufacturing. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for Digital India, Startup India, and the Semiconductor Mission for laying the foundation for this leap, enabling India to build semiconductor fabs. India has 1.2 billion mobile subscribers, 974 million Internet users, and 944 million broadband subscribers.
The startup ecosystem has grown to over 180,000 startups and more than 100 unicorns. The government-industry partnership model facilitates innovation through initiatives like Startup India, Digital India, and the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF).
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(Release ID: 2176771)
Key Entities Referenced
India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025: A platform showcasing India's telecom leadership and startup synergy.
Digital India: A government initiative aimed at transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
Startup India: A government initiative aimed at building a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in India.
Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF): A government fund aimed at supporting research and development in the telecom sector.
Ministry of Communications: The government ministry responsible for telecom policy and initiatives in India.
Ministry of Communications
Union Minister of Communications Shri Jyotiraditya
Scindia Leads Strategic Industry Roundtable to Chart
India’s Telecom Vision
Hails India’s digital and entrepreneurial revolution at
Nation Builders Summit, IMC 2025
Government, CEOs, and Unicorns Join Forces to
Build India’s Digital Future and Global Innovation
Leadership
India Aims to Become Global Telecom Export
Powerhouse with Design-Solve-Scale Strategy
Startups, Unicorns, and Government Collaborate to
Create Bharat-Centric, AI-Powered Solutions
“This is your time. India will not just be vocal for local
but local for global designing in India, solving in India
and scaling for the world.” : Union Minister Shri
Scindia
Public-Private Synergy to Drive Inclusive Growth,
Deeptech Innovation, and Global CompetitivenessIMC 2025 Showcases India's Telecom Leadership
and Startup Synergy
Posted On: 09 OCT 2025 3:28PM by PIB Delhi
In a powerful demonstration of public-private collaboration shaping India’s digital future, the Union Minister
of Communications, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, today spearheaded two pivotal conversations at the India
Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025—each reflecting a cornerstone of India’s vision to become a global telecom
manufacturing powerhouse and an innovation-first economy.
The day began with a high-powered CEO Roundtable on “Charting India’s Telecom Vision: A Leadership
Dialogue”, drawing 37 leaders from across the telecom value chain. This was followed by a dynamic
interaction titled “Nation Builders: How Unicorns and Government are Co-Creating the Future”, where
Union Minister Shri Scindia engaged directly with some of India’s most innovative startups and unicorn
founders. Together, the sessions reinforced the government’s commitment to co-creating a digitally inclusive,
technologically sovereign, and globally competitive telecom ecosystem.
Charting India’s Telecom Vision: Industry and Government Align on Strategy
Addressing the CEO Roundtable, Union Minister Shri Scindia underscored the telecom sector’s pivotal role as
the backbone of India’s digital economy and a vehicle for inclusion for 1.4 billion citizens. He stated that the
success of Digital India had been shaped by the innovation of the people and the facilitation provided by the
government. He emphasized that together, they were not just connecting people, but also building the digital
architecture of a new India and a new global era.
India’s telecom sector is undergoing a transformative shift, anchored in domestic manufacturing and R&D.
India is now nearly self-sufficient in critical telecom products, with much of the 5G rollout powered by
indigenously manufactured equipment — a major leap towards technology sovereignty.
The Union Minister outlined India’s strategic DSS framework — Design in India, Solve in India, Scale from
India — calling it a global growth vision, not protectionism. He urged the industry to invest further in IPcreation, sustainable product innovation, and resilient, scalable solutions that meet India’s unique needs while
strengthening global supply chains.
Union Minister Shri Scindia called on the CEOs to “move forward as partners in innovation,” co-develop
standards, cybersecurity frameworks, and invest in skilling through initiatives like 5G Labs and Centres of
Excellence.
Nation Builders: Startups and Unicorns Powering India’s Innovation Engine
Later in the day, Union Minister Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia, addressed the Nation Builders Summit at India
Mobile Congress 2025, outlining how India has undergone a historic transformation over the past decade from
a services-led economy to a global powerhouse for digital innovation, advanced manufacturing, and
entrepreneurship.
The Union Minister noted that a nation once largely defined as a “services country” has today vertically
integrated backwards into high-value manufacturing from digital services to products, and all the way to
semiconductor chips. He credited the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose push for Digital India,
Startup India and the Semiconductor Mission over the last 11 years laid the foundation for this leap.
“India, which could not even imagine manufacturing chips a decade ago, is today building semiconductor fabs
from Gujarat to Assam,” he said, adding that this revolution mirrors the impact of roadways and railways
during the Industrial Revolution, connecting people, production, and opportunity at scale.
Shri Scindia underscored India’s rise as the third-largest digital nation in the world, with 1.2 billion mobile
subscribers, 974 million Internet users, and 944 million broadband subscribers. With 46% of the world’s
digital transactions happening through UPI amounting to $3 trillion annually, India has built the largest digital
public infrastructure in the world, empowering millions to participate in the digital economy.
He highlighted how the startup ecosystem has exploded from just a handful of enterprises 15 years ago to over
180,000 startups and more than 100 unicorns today. This wave of innovation, he noted, is no longer limited to
metros: “Today, a majority of companies listed on the stock exchange are based out of Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
Entrepreneurial energy is rising from every small town and district.”
The Union Minister also spotlighted a powerful shift towards gender equity in entrepreneurship, with over
73,000 women-led startups emerging as strong drivers of growth. “If India must move from Amrit Kaal to
Shatabdi Kaal, every citizen especially women must be equal participants in building the New India of 2047,”
he said.
Drawing on his experiences at Stanford, Shri Scindia invoked the lessons of Andy Grove “the only constant is
change” and “only the paranoid survive” emphasizing that these principles define the DNA of Indian
entrepreneurship today. He praised the government–industry partnership model that has replaced regulation
with facilitation: “Government provides the runway, and entrepreneurs provide the flight.”
Calling this a defining decade for India, he said, “This is your time. India will not just be vocal for local but
local for global designing in India, solving in India and scaling for the world.”The dialogue highlighted how government initiatives such as Startup India, Digital India, and the Telecom
Technology Development Fund (TTDF) have been instrumental in nurturing innovation across sectors like
agritech, healthtech, deeptech, and AI. These programmes have catalysed an ecosystem that enables startups
to grow, scale, and tackle real-world challenges.
IMC 2025: A Showcase of Telecom Leadership and Startup Synergy
IMC 2025 served as a powerful platform for the convergence of leadership, innovation, and policy direction.
Both sessions demonstrated the shared ambition of government and industry to position India not only as a
digital economy leader but also as a global innovation powerhouse.
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(Release ID: 2176771)