Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Chairman, ITEL Foundation and Institute Professor, IIT Madras (file photo) | Photo Credit: RAGU R

Despite decades of work India’s ‘development agenda’ remains ‘extremely unfinished’,  according to, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Chairman, ITEL Foundation and Institute Professor, IIT Madras. 

Jhunjhunwala was speaking at the launch of his biography Roots & Wings, organised by the Madras Management Association. The biography was written by Saloni Malhotra, Jhunjhunwala’s longtime mentee and the founder of tech start-up DesiCrew. 

The founder and former head of IIT Madras Research Park mentioned that while India has created many deep-tech start-up success stories, we continue to remain heavily dependent on imported technologies. 

“We can celebrate individual success, but we are far from coming to our own, where we can independently address our problem,” he said.

Jhunjhunwala emphasised that by mobilising its large engineering talent pool and fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, India can build a stronger foundation to tackle its unresolved challenges. “”India requires not 2,000, not 20,000, not 20 lakh, but two crore entrepreneurs,” he added.

The event also saw the presence of MA Siddique Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, Government of Tamil Nadu who reiterated the state’s government focus on providing policy support accelerating technology adoption.

“We have expanded the Information Technology (IT) department to include artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. There is a lot of work happening both at the state and central level,” he said. 

B Santhanam, Chairman, Saint-Gobain, India and Former CEO, Asia Pacific & India mentioned that government backing for semiconductors, aerospace and advanced manufacturing was far stronger today than in previous decades and that this has created a much stronger ecosystem for industrial growth.

Published on June 25, 2026