Building a Research Ecosystem in India

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal speaks with Sharad Sharma, one of the key minds behind Aadhaar and UPI. Sharad shares why he left a successful corporate career to focus on nation building, and how India can avoid becoming a trade colony of China or a tech colony of the US by doubling down on deep tech and research-driven innovation.

They discuss:

- The origins of India Stack and Digital Public Infrastructure.

- How UPI really scaled and the lessons for entrepreneurs.

- Why India must build a strong R&D and product innovation ecosystem.

- The urgent need for new research institutions, mid-career researchers, and long-term thinking.

- How India can carve its own path in AI through health, education, and data-driven use cases.

If you want to understand India’s deep-tech playbook and the roadmap to Viksit Bharat, this is a must-watch conversation.