Keen to prime India’s ecosystem for the AI age, Nasscom’s newly appointed Chairperson Srikanth Velamakanni talked about his plans to rejig the current narrative around tech and encourage players to invest heavily towards AI innovation.
In a candid, exclusive conversation with businessline, Velamakanni stressed the need for Indian corporates to spend nearly double of what they are currently investing towards technology.
Comparing India’s current 2.5 per cent GDP spend on technology to the global average of 4.5 per cent, Velamakanni said, “We have to double our tech spending relative to revenue. As companies grow by 10-15 per cent, they should grow their tech spend by 30-40 per cent to effectively double their current tech spending.”
New narrative
Speaking on the sidelines of the Plaksha university’s launch of its Masters in AI, the Chairperson called for a change in narrative around human work and machine work as one of his top priorities going foward. He argued that the larger ecosystem has an incorrect approach towards AI’s impact on work. Even if human work shrinks in the AI age, cheap technology will increase the demand for software which in turn will increase manifold.
“The world needs 1,000 times more software than it has today. That is why we are getting it wrong. My first job is to make sure the world and Indian tech industry understands this,” he said.
Regarding India’s sovereign AI plans, Velamakanni encouraged players to collaborate with the government, plan towards sovereignty with AI and tech.
When asked to define the idea of AI sovereignty, he said, “It is about control. Is there a way we can lose control? If our AI cannot be switched off unless our government wants it to be, then that’s good. This can happen through collaboration, as well as through contracts.”
Muted job prospects
Despite great ambitions regarding the Indian ecosystem, Velamakanni warned that the growth rate of the industry is likely to remain in the low to mid single digit range for the new fiscal.
“I expect that the growth rate of the industry this year is not going to be spectacular. It is going to be in the single digits, for sure. My sense is that the AI-led expansion theme will play out in about 18 months,” he said.
To prepare for the coming Ai race, he advised the touth to build and release their AI systems rather than simply absorbing information as it helps to build a portfolio of that will eventually help in hiring. While he did not single out any particular job as ‘vulnerable’ he did nod towards a growing demand for AI engineers – a skillset that is relatively new in the world.
AI and job takeover
In terms of ‘AI taking over jobs,’ he asked the community to consider vulnerable tasks rather than vulnerable jobs as AI cannot take up entire jobs but they can automate tasks.
He also asked tech companies to be more candid with aspirants in terms of their R&D and AI plans to address the unease among the youth.
Speaking about India’s AI readiness in comparison to the rest of the world, Velamakanni said the country still lags in terms of AI models and chip infrastructure. To address this, he suggested that Indian private companies raise capital while developing a risk-appetite to compete with global giants like Anthropic.
Published on May 17, 2026