OCT 08: India is transforming innovation from an elite pursuit into a people’s movement, said Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, at the India Mobile Congress 2025 in New Delhi. Addressing the session “Beyond Connectivity: Democratising the Engines of Tomorrow’s Innovation,” he highlighted that India is building a globally competitive, inclusive, and accessible innovation ecosystem under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
Dr Chandra Sekhar emphasised that initiatives like Atal Tinkering Labs, Startup India, Digital India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat are making innovation available to all citizens. Reflecting on India’s legacy of zero and chess, he said innovation is part of the nation’s DNA and is being awakened for a new century.
He noted that India’s start-up ecosystem has become the world’s third largest, with over 1.9 lakh startups, while patent filings have doubled to more than 80,000 in 2025. Innovation is no longer limited to metros; coding is happening in tier-3 towns, and startups are being born in college dorms, making innovation a national habit.
The Minister also credited a decade of digital inclusion—through the JAM Trinity, low-cost internet for 900 million users, and UPI transactions exceeding 10 billion monthly—for laying the foundation for a connected, creative, and contributive citizenry. Achievements like Chandrayaan-3, indigenous 4G/5G, Made-in-India MRI, and a 30-fold rise in defence exports demonstrate India’s technological strength and self-reliance.
He further highlighted economic reforms, including GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, labour law simplification, and the abolition of retrospective taxation, which have created a transparent, investor-friendly environment. India is now moving from a license raj to a trust-first model, celebrating entrepreneurs as nation-builders.
