India must build materials, tech capability to scale manufacturing: Experts

Last Updated: Feb 27 2026 | 12:01 PM IST

India’s manufacturing sector, which currently accounts for about 17 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), is entering a phase where the focus is shifting from assembly and scale to technology ownership, materials capability, and supply chain resilience, industry executives said at the Business Standard Manthan event in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Can India be the world’s food factory? | BS Manthan

India’s goal of becoming the world’s food factory will depend not only on boosting exports but also on fixing deep structural problems, experts said at BS Manthan on Wednesday.

Updated On: 27 Feb 2026 | 11:57 AM IST

Self-care myths busted: Spa days, supplements & what actually helps

Is self-care selfish? Does it need money, time, or spa rituals? Can it guarantee happiness or productivity? In this episode of our fact-check series, doctors bust common self-care myths and explain wh

Updated On: 27 Feb 2026 | 11:53 AM IST

Fashion for fashionable escapes

Updated On: 27 Feb 2026 | 11:18 AM IST

India must build its own AI models and strengthen data sovereignty: Experts

India will need to prioritise building its own foundational artificial intelligence (AI) models and strengthen data sovereignty safeguards to reduce dependence on foreign technologies, experts said.

Updated On: 26 Feb 2026 | 8:48 PM IST

In India, AI will rise from the bottom of the pyramid: Shekhar Kapur | BS Manthan

In India, artificial intelligence (AI) will not emerge from the top. It will rise from the bottom of the pyramid, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said, “because that is where intuition lives”.

Updated On: 26 Feb 2026 | 8:44 PM IST

At BS Manthan Pralhad Joshi outlines storage push for 500 GW target by 2030

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi laid out a roadmap to 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030, backed by falling solar tariffs

Updated On: 26 Feb 2026 | 8:40 PM IST

Big tech, AI expansion raise competition risks: CCI chief at BS Manthan

The rapid expansion of big tech firms and artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping India’s competition landscape, prompting closer regulatory scrutiny, Ravneet Kaur

Updated On: 26 Feb 2026 | 8:33 PM IST

FM Sitharaman flags fund utilisation gap, cautious on China FDIs

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the problem of budgeted expenditure remaining unused was often driven by political considerations at the state level

Updated On: 26 Feb 2026 | 8:28 PM IST

Global disruption not a setback, but an opening: Amitabh Kant at BS Manthan

If global supply chains are breaking, can India help rebuild them? And as AI reshapes the world, can India shape it in its own image?

Updated On: 26 Feb 2026 | 8:23 PM IST