Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025: 'Look beyond coding, focus on products'

At the Bangalore Tech Summit, industry leaders said India must move from a coding-focused services model to product-led innovation, strengthening deep tech, AI and semiconductor capabilities

India should focus on product-led growth, move to creating products and intellectual property rather than just concentrating on coding, according to business leaders, who stressed on more investment by the industry for research and development in the deeptech ecosystem.

 

“A product-led growth is important. Professionals have to think what are the white spaces and how to build products in those areas. IT professionals will have to think about collaborating across the value chain, research ecosystem, startup ecosystem, investors, mentors, and founders,” Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys cofounder, said at the inauguration of the three-day Bangalore Tech Summit on Tuesday.

 

Also present at the event were Accel’s partner Prashanth Prakash, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, and Karnataka Minister of Electronics, Information Technology & Biotechnology and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge.

 

Accel’s Prakash said innovators need to go beyond building apps that are meant for urban convenience. “While those apps solve problems, such as 10-minute delivery, and are the only one of its kind globally, we need entrepreneurs who will bring in product-led innovation, equipment-led innovation and process-led innovation with deep domain expertise.”

 

All the panellists agreed that while the government is doing its part in incubating startups and giving grants to the deeptech ecosystem, the industry also needs to do its bit by investing more in research and development (R&D).

 

For example, the state will set up a centre of excellence (CoE) in Quantum Artificial Intelligence and Computing at the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Dharwad. The initiative, part of the Local Economy Accelerator Programme, aims to give the region a sharper edge in next-generation computing.

 

The new CoE will be supported with an investment of ₹18 crore over five years, positioning the Hubballi–Dharwad–Belagavi (HDB) region as one of India’s most promising emerging hubs for quantum computing, artificial intelligence and advanced computational research, a key pillar of the state’s Beyond Bengaluru mission.

 

Deeptech startup funding in India surged 78 per cent to $1.6 billion last year, but still accounted for only about one-fifth of the $7.4 billion raised overall, according to a report by industry body Nasscom.

 

“50 per cent of your R&D should be outside the company and you should also determine what percentage of your revenue is from product and technology introduced in the last 5 years,” Gopalakrishnan added.