{"id":220027,"date":"2025-01-20T20:39:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T20:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/20\/etdavos-2025-tamil-nadu-aims-to-be-deep-tech-capital\/"},"modified":"2025-01-20T20:39:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T20:39:33","slug":"etdavos-2025-tamil-nadu-aims-to-be-deep-tech-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/20\/etdavos-2025-tamil-nadu-aims-to-be-deep-tech-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"ET@Davos 2025: Tamil Nadu aims to be deep-tech capital"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ET@Davos<\/div>


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Tamil Nadu<\/a> has the potential to become the deeptech capital of India-or even the world-through strategic policies to promote skill development and boost foreign investments and global partnerships, officials and industry leaders said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum<\/a> on Monday.“We really want to be ‘product nation TN’, and that’s where we are headed,” Tamil Nadu industries minister TRB Rajaa<\/a> said at the ‘Driving Development through R&D & Engineering Excellence’ panel moderated by ET’s Arijit Barman.<\/p>\n

Panellists said investments in research and development (R&D) will be crucial to achieve this goal. India’s strengths in frugal innovation can be tapped for sustainable product development as well, they said.<\/p>\n

Rajaa said TN’s investments in educational institutions and ensuring high-end jobs have helped create a deep pipeline of talent. This talent pool is being upskilled further to meet the requirements of new-age industries, he added.<\/p>\n

The minister also drew attention to Tamil Nadu’s leadership in promoting gender inclusion, pointing out that 40-43% of women working in India’s organised sector hail from the state. He attributed this to sustained efforts under the “Dravidian model of governance” to create equal opportunities and respect for women.<\/p>\n

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The state’s strengths in automobile and electronics manufacturing could be brought together to enable electric vehicle<\/a> (EV) manufacturing though there are challenges, Rajaa said. “Going the EV way in manufacturing is very easy for TN, but enabling the market itself is a very tricky thing. There are a lot of inputs needed from the union (government) also,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also highlighted the need to create a green power grid in India.<\/p>\n

Velusamy R<\/a>, president at Mahindra & Mahindra, said India’s bid to outpace China in the EV market hinges on technological advancements and local development. “If we have to beat China and be ahead of it, you have to invest in technology and bring the technology into the car, as well as convenience and comfort,” he said. “The battery has to be a worry of the past.” Velusamy highlighted the need for investment in software engineering to integrate high-tech features such as advanced connectivity, improved safety, and enhanced user convenience.<\/p>\n

He also stressed the importance of affordability in scaling EV adoption and said India’s extensive auto manufacturing ecosystem provides a strong foundation for this growth.<\/p>\n

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Velusamy underscored the necessity of reducing reliance on imports by focusing on indigenous innovation, which can help lower costs and make India a global leader in the EV space.<\/p>\n

Bharat Kapoor<\/a>, global managing director of Performance Labs at AT Kearney<\/a>, said, “If India wants to be the deeptech capital of the world, it must focus on the next generation of EV technologies, like solid-state batteries and advanced power electronics, rather than replicating existing solutions.”<\/p>\n

He believes India has a unique opportunity to become the deeptech capital by focusing on innovation rather than imitation. “Our frugality mindset can be a gamechanger in making high-tech innovation more accessible and scalable.”<\/p>\n

Kapoor urged stakeholders to invest in emerging technologies like solid-state batteries and power electronics, which are set to redefine the global EV landscape. He also emphasised India’s advantage in embedded systems and the vast amounts of data the country can generate for AI-driven automotive solutions.<\/p>\n

Kapoor said leveraging India’s talent pool and fostering a strong R&D ecosystem will be crucial in ensuring sustainable growth and positioning India at the forefront of deeptech innovation.<\/p>\n

But building a deeptech company in the EV space is not easy, panellists observed. “It’s not just about cost. It’s also about culture,” said Dinesh Arjun<\/a>, cofounder and chief executive of Chennai-based EV startup Raptee Energy. “Building a deeptech firm means I need to have people stick with the company for at least a certain period of time, because it’s not like manufacturing where the process is established and you keep repeating it. You need people who will stick during bad times, tough times.”<\/p>\n

He said attrition in a city like Chennai is low, not just due to better pay but because the “people are a lot more sticky.”<\/p>\n

Moreover, proper guidance and support from the state government meant that the startup signed an MoU with it even before it had received its first venture capital funding cheque, Arjun said.
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Tamil Nadu has the potential to become the deeptech capital of India-or even the world-through strategic policies to promote skill development and boost foreign investments and global partnerships, officials and industry leaders said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum on Monday.“We really want to be ‘product nation TN’, and that’s where we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-42031747\/et-logo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[3541,173140,173139,2292,7441,173141,3474,173142,41022,7169,5303,4715,101785,173138,290],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220029,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220027\/revisions\/220029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}