# India AI Strategy: Talent, Infrastructure, Sovereignty

**Podcast:** Tech and Tales
**Published:** 2026-02-21

## Transcript

Tech and tales.
And the thing about this technology is it's going to affect the whole world, everybody in the world.
It's going to cross borders.
So it's very important that we have summits like this, international summits to bring the international community together to discuss how to uh make sure the opportunities benefit the whole world.
And also how do we mitigate the risks?
And I think in order to mitigate some of the risks, it's going to need international cooperation.
And the first step for that is to have international dialogue.
And I think that's what these summits starting in the UK and then in Paris and then in Korea and now here in India are for, and have been really helpful in convening many of the important heads of state and many of the important leaders in this technology together to discuss what is on the horizon.
Indian is a super spanning, super diverse land, and I find it fascinating that all the religion, thousand cultures, 20 version, all in perfect harmony, more or more with anyone living.
And wanted long time to India.
Bisher had not the time.
And my forbidden for this was easier inhibiting nature and with a impossible.
I have been with Typhus and Hepatitis A and Black.
And I think these educatives are sinful.
This is under the Senator Melanie Leonard from the SPD is this delegation of Indian reason.
There are ungefort 50 delegations teilnehmer who initially come, or even on shipping, as he says the Harlows, Eurogate is the Handelskammer, my friend Jessica Rios, the ground of Job Match Me.
She is my travel partner in crime and startups in the kinetic intelligence.
And the reise are the handles of the Trick.
We went in Boat.
We have in New Delhi, in Mumbai and in Bangalore.
And NXP, Hupper Gloyd, and so on, to their trades a bit an eye to become in their life and in the forward, which they in the last year have been.
What I best think that the deutsche is relatively cool.
I think this is a teil from us, and most sites.
In the delegation, also in the last delegation reise in the Baltish Staten, why not?
I flew on Sonntag and came in the hotel.
And the first thing I thought as I was a flugzeug was that the flugzeught next would be tatsu was so that the luftquality schlecht is that so much smog herried, that many permanent, or that I permanent, that I for anything.
Momentan we are on the allerobest grenade angekommen.
The media empfehlen tatsächlich the start to verse, which we actually need to do.
That't say that off the Dow, that's not a good idea.
That's what we have to do or not, this believed many three months, but the network not stable enough.
And that the notfall generator with diesel befilled, and the abgas are.
In this context, I must say on the data center in Memphis, Tennessee.
And the absurd.
I had a Kopfschmerzen, we were not permanently schlecht, but we won't see anything and my home here to find was the AI Impact Summit.
The Spanish president comes on the 18th February, and all the other.
Welt Hype Google and oh the gunstick that it here tatsächlich and even the talented Indian entwickler nothing.
Also I have my firm in India entwicked.
And also in my berating job offshore gemacht.
That's offshore between Indian.
We have easy delivery centers that in India entwick, but they are the talent have and B the Erfahrung.
What discuted is the forgotten to China.
That's that Indian says China as a great concurrent and their own to learn.
And why are they?
Indian has China, 100.000.
And China is very better.
So their GDP lie by 19,3 million dollar, where Indian by 3,75 million leaked.
So that's a university.
And also in the infrastructure is China.
And then the entscheiding is strong.
That's that Indian has unfair 416 Gigawatt to the world, where China has 2380 Gigawatt to the world.
There are great things that they not sound.
But I think, and this is my personal mind, that's what we have between China and India is that in China the French issue.
In China circa 60% of the people, in India not 30%.
It's actually not dunkeless in India.
Trotzdem is so that effect of the one child policy, that the China more in arbeits are integrated.
And it is not causal that the virtual ones have been.
So it is the strassenbild, but it is for my findings very dominant.
And it is so, and this is in these stars, Muslim London, that when the health of the world held to generate, the virtual land sounds.
And I think that in kind of mention to what they have, so that in China was.
Trotzdem finds it interesting to see what the world is.
And this is a great aspect of Indians, which is to address.
Narendra Moody is after 2014, the 13th and amtier in the Premier Minister of India.
And he is on the social media platforms and vegetarian and asked the living still and is tats for an art vested.
Man, it's not the Modi Veste or the Modi Jacket.
And this is traditionally a Nero Jacket.
And he had some clear stage and stuff besides the Knöpfe and the Veste can quasi.
And this is in a fashion staple by the meeting in Indonesia.
But in gross and believed.
She came from a family of Landwirte, who has an Bachelor of Arts in Politik and World Church in 1999 graduated from the Ramadevi Women's College in Bubaniswa, which was very ungewöhnlich.
Eine in einem Auto and Fall, one of the wonderful, your man started, their mother started.
In our family, the tochter, which in India is very schwer, but these familiar structures are doing so wicked, and all in these great families living, and the social is not so by us in Europe with friends.
We are a Wahlfamilie, but even with these familiar structures.
And it is of one that your life in their sight of Indian.
And she had other options as Moody, but she had them here and had other people as Modi.
Moody on 17 years the message.
And that would be that at 9.30 morning the message of all sanitized, so have it.
In every hotel and in this official sicherheits-check.
That's an art detector, then a röntgen for the package for each handtash.
And someone pad-down, mostly in a clear, separate celt, in which we then with two darms, or I stay with two dams, and so proof that we have bombs or the world.
And the message.
Also, our plan and we can with the handles with the hazard, as well in the bootstock, and we read also with our delegation.
We heard the interest was a nice one and with the Hamburger Delegation and the Indian.
But that's not a running.
Uh, I think the Impact Summit on Monday for us cancelled that the delegation and to Bangalore a year later, to one day alone, here in New Delhi to the AI Impact Summit to the world.
I'm on the high planet to sleep, and this is the same.
That's when it's a nice hotel.
But it was there, but that's the point.
The time was long, but I'm gonna mess and see what the defense message.
Talk two.
Namaste.
He began to AI Summit Mess.
And Deutsch as we are, we planned we relatively have this moment in New Delhi, in front of the president and very wicked men who here are.
And as we came, we have eight security checks.
And it was a decided for five people, for ladies, that were there.
We were with upstand, so my friends and I were with upstand the last year and weren't a little bit common, almost the message to get and the next standard to show.
I've been as easy by my life, and that was a contact with the Indian colleagues.
And we had the stand Bloomberg, and we had a great interview.
But in principle, these standards, when we have the Hannover Message, the offline that between in Deutschland finds it forgotten.
The message will be over 300, which I don't want, but it was greater.
So we had a mission of OMR and Hannover Message for the United States.
The tickets were costly.
All the great names plan an expansion of Indian.
And Google had the Impact Summits that they have 15 million in an AI Hub investing.
And that's all the relative central standard for AI Compute, for innovation, for entwicking.
That he says that the audience the compute internation in their four vendors, when we have the souvera KI, Indian had Deutschland, a reasonable theme, that all this in the USA flew.
And the common theme of the message was souverinity.
That's why they plan bureaucracy in India to have in New Delhi, in Mumbai, in Bengaluru, also they plan with local partners better to use, to even Indian specific KI productions to both.
And I think that it's the internet.
But this is this what they intern as well.
My feel here is that the error feels when you technical product or software product monetarised.
It was very creative technical.
And I have my application 20021, I think, in Indian test.
That's why we had in earlier 70,000 user.
Now the paid user to convert, and we had a conversion rate of 3%, so very great.
And this is a problem in India.
They are very venture-financed, but not very cost.
It's like the market is not given for digital product to sell.
OpenAI and Google and so have that, that is the greatest waxmark, named Brazil.
It was in Deutschland with an Indian VPN software product, also OpenAI license, but they have a gun as when we have a decent IP address.
And built me over Get Your Guide a Guide, so to say, with which I had the Dailies.
They did so that I had a photo up, I think I wanted to see where I was.
And with them 30 minutes to Delhi, but we have our guide on a parkplatz.
It was a gruseless, but the pharaoh has a English spray and in a time where we were.
It's so much like in Africa, I think, or Latin America.
These entwickers are in the world.
That's a lighting to drink, and off the side, any vernfights to work.
But everyone wanted a point, in which I had reason.
So, my guide came back in the out and we have to do it.
That was not my deal.
I wanted to see that in Laden and Gewürze.
And we also typically is.
Schneider, beziehungsweise stofffabriken to fan, in which they were a good idea.
And we found and came in relative, urban, but in a killer gang.
And there were nice, they have to have a tall stuff and had my schneid.
But over this guide had this, B niemals.
Of the week, military heavy momentan the stuff is.
Bettling on the fences of the one side and on the other side, these five stern hotels, in which all this marmo is contrasting, they are for the seal to the world.
This morning, he flew to Mangalore.
But I must have a flughafen and a other things.
On 20 years, for my anzug, and on 11 Uhr heute would tell you from the Schneidern in the hotel gebracht.
Falls jemand to Delhi reist, the guide and the Schneiders.
India had one of the schlechtest track records in all fluorescent.
In vergleich to Delhi.
That heißt es fühlt sich unfassbar gut an, einfach wieder saubere Luft zu atmen.
Bengaluo liegt auf 900 Metern über dem Meeresspiegel and is bekannt as Silicon Valley Indians and has two names.
Also Bangalore was Bengalore umgetauft in 2014.
But when many of the stuff spricht man with beyond.
They had this for 16 million in 2018 on Amazon verkauft.
And trotzdem is Flipkart deficit.
And even so we Amazon verdienen these groups, e-commerce kept gold, but it's a Wachstumcases.
Also the technical universities are here.
And the stuff had one other vibe.
But it was on the other side of whole to reflect what is and strapaz and delicious, both the luft and the world.
Also, this was talk three.
But we have completely produced the field in Bangalore.
Let's have one official spray, it is Canada, but there are so many other spray.
The early nenner, whereby all your eye version of the English have.
And it's very funny, we trotzdem all time with hands and bzw.
not by the most in the wax with two or three spray.
There are ungefair 75% of Hindus that in Bengalura living, then ungefragt 13% Muslims.
And he begins Ramadan.
And five to six percent Christian.
And we see the temple, we see moscheen, we see clear.
But Straßenbitness is a relatively heterogeneous, but very fried.
Bengalur was a very cosmopolitical stuff from the inner bargeny, and it's a very liberal start.
At middle have we got many startups in a startup hub.
The focus was on Deep Tech, that's all the intelligence involved.
And we have startups their ideas pitched.
And it was to say that the Fight was in Deutschland.
That's the one there was thematics, so it's Space Tech Startups, it was logistics startups, and we have the most monetary, also gold, and had relatively good funding, which I also endrant.
And it is so that in 2025 were between 24 and 26 million in the startups deployed.
That was startups and growth stage.
There are unfortunate startups that are from the Indian regional initiatives to this to understand.
One of the Startup India Fund, and the actual 2.0, who had 1,2 million approved become.
Find it out beeindruckend, for all the wax in this scene, so to say.
The focus is tatsu of künstlicher intelligence.
We have the inner zulieferer character in Richtung Innovator to get it.
And it was very eindruckend, and we have the grinder and all men involved in them in the startups, not abend gas and hinter here at 22 years of the idea gekomen to get in all dunkling, but I think I feel sicherer as in Latin America and in Africa.
But alright, would I definitely not do the strength?
So that was he for talk 4.
Tag 5, Namaste.
And so I'm Tata and Airbus.
And with Tata have the error contact in 2016 or 2017, as I for the firm FLIO arbeited.
And by FLIO have an Airport Appout, in which we predictive systems for Flughäfen gebaut.
And Tata is a conglomerate of verschiedenen firms.
This was gegründed by Jamseti Tata and gegründet wurde das tatsächlich in 18th yeah.
And they hören Dinge wie die Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Consumer Products, and we said Air India.
Also a name, Tata macht wahnside Umsatz.
Also in 2024 and 25 lakhsatz bei 180 Milliarden US Dollar insgesamt, also all zusammen.
And they wachsen stetig.
Das heißt, they have in the letz fast verdoppelt.
Das heißt, dass sie es schaffen in verschiedene Sectors and Industrien to diversifizieren anders strategische Käufe zu machen.
And the interessant is that it's either in seven hands and the frame loud, obviously for a virtual so unbedingt gesund is.
And the redeem is from a Gigawatt on Leistungen, which significant is.
And that heißt, dass dort die Reise hingeht, anders gibt es letztlich auch wenige, die in der Lage sind, ähnliches zu leisten.
Also zunächst sollen die Datencenter 100 Megawatt umfassen and später auf ein Gigawatt anwachsen.
And klar ist, dass das Netz is here momentan eigentlich nicht in der Lage, diese große Stromleistung to bringt.
Deswegen gets am Ende nur mit einem großen Infrastructure player wie Tata, um so etwas aufzubauen.
And this partnership, the Tata Group, is Teil des Stargates Projectes from OpenAI.
Das heißt, they wanna with this Stargate Project AI ready infrastructure, so to say the enterprise adoption.
And that can be the energy and eventually the ausbouw, for all these netzes.
That is nice one of the greatest herausfords, inspection in the USA.
Das Netz in den USA is not language, these masses on strong, die gebaut werden aufzubauen.
And that is eventually here in Indien, weil Indien eben auch toch an AI First Nation coming.
Sowohl Tata als auch Airbus befinden sich in art corporate parks, also Bureau Parks, when man so möchte, in denen high-rise staan, in die forne a gate have, die sehr viel security have.
And that is some one notwendig, weil die eben as Arbeitgeber most attractive for the talented, they can see.
But they have a ladies' lunch or a girl's lunch.
They are so in their form not see.
That's it, the hotels, in which we rotted, or even in gated communities or even in gated bureau parks.
So and Tata we have Airbus given.
Airbus was eventually a very nice bureau gebe.
We came a tour, we came up with the geschäfts and what the internects and what so the strategy on the stellen is.
But all had uni sono the focus, and that was the talent.
We have to give you, we can retain.
And what I have so interesting is that it's not the plan to the talented in India quasi to skill and then to Europe to show the Mother Companies, also in Airbus, was auch jedes Mal eine einzige Challenge ist, weil durch diesen Verkehr sich zu fehlen, sehr viel Mühe kostet und Stunden tatsächlich dauert, aber wir waren alle sehr erfolgreich.
So, und jetzt am Anschluss möchte ich euch ein paar Gäste vorstellen, mit denen ich gereist bin und die ebenfalls an der Reise teilgenommen haben.
Here with me is Dennis Albers of Cargo Nerds.
Dennis, erzähl doch mal what you want, was du machst, wie du hierher kam sozusagen und was deine Erfahrungen sind oder wie es dir gefallen hat.
Ja, vielen Dank erstmal für die Einladung.
Wie bin ich zur Delegationsreise gekommen?
Ich war Teilnehmer tatsächlich der Hamburg-Delegation auf der Singapore Maritime Week.
Und da kam die Senatorin jetzt auf mich zu und hat gefragt, ob das Hamburger Startup Cargo Nerds nicht auch wieder mit dabei sein will.
Und da die Themen AI sowie Fachkräfte für uns absolut relevant sind, gab es für mich gar keine Überlegungen, mitzukommen nach Indien.
Und mein Eindruck von Indien, es ist unfassbar, was für ein Potenzial sich hier bietet.
Natürlich kann man darüber diskutieren, ob zum Beispiel beim AI Summit es organisatorische Schwierigkeiten gab, der Verkehr verrückt ist und alles.
Und trotzdem würde ich sagen, es ist ein unfassbarer Erfolg, mit was so einem Fokus Indien auf AI und seine jungen, jungen Talente tatsächlich hier vorangeht.
Und das ist super interessant für uns als Start-up, was Software für Freight Forwarder, also für Logistiker entwickelt, um das Business mit ihren Kunden zu digitalisieren.
Von daher hat sich die Woche absolut gelohnt und ich bin sehr gespannt, wie das weitergeht.
Ich glaube, wir haben einen Vortrag gehört, in der die Zahlen genannt wurden, wie jung die Gesellschaft ist.
Hast du die noch im Kopf?
Ja, also ich glaube, das Durchschnittsalter der Median waren 28 Jahre.
Und ein Fakt, der bei mir hängen geblieben ist, ist, dass 20% der Gen Z weltweit einfach in Indien leben.
Und sie haben einen Talentpool von ungefähr drei Millionen Engineers jedes Jahr, die die Uni absolvieren und dem Arbeitsmarkt zur Verfügung stehen.
Und das ist natürlich ein riesiger Wert, den viele Länder auf der Welt sich, glaube ich, wünschen würden.
Ja, was recht interessant war, war, dass wir uns Startup-Pitches angesehen haben gestern und darüber diskutiert haben, dass es relativ schwierig sein wird, aus dieser Vielzahl an Talenten quasi die richtigen rauszufiltern.
Und ich habe auch noch keine Antwort dafür, aber wir waren heute bei Airbus, wir waren heute bei Tata und haben gesehen tatsächlich, wie die Unternehmen darum kämpfen, dass die Talente zu ihnen kommen.
Wie siehst du das?
Glaubst du, es gibt irgendeinen Magic-Trick?
Oder wie kann man, wie können die Inder das selber auch lösen in gewisser Weise, dass sie diesen, also dass dieser Filterprozess nicht ganz so hart ist.
Also ich glaube, eine Lösung für den Filterprozess habe ich nicht, aber genau das, was du sagst, ich glaube, man muss wie im normalen Recruiting auch seine Maßstäbe anlegen und Leute finden.
Der Pool ist einfach viel, viel größer.
Heißt aber auch, mehr Bewerber, und man muss gucken, wie kann ich filtern, wie kann ich die Leute finden, die mich weiterbringen.
Das wird, glaube ich, die Herausforderung bleiben.
Aber die Möglichkeiten sind hier einfach schon sehr, sehr groß.
Ja, genau.
Abschließend lässt sich sagen, dass einer der Vortragenden hat heute gesagt, dass wenn man einen Stein in Bengalua wirft, mit großer Sicherheit einen Entwickler trifft.
Das ist garantiert wahr.
Und das zweite, was ich interessant fand, war, dass sie sagte, dass die Stadt geworden and specialisiert in tech, auf IT and all the growth tech player bool here on the talent.
Also, vielen, vielen Dank for dead, and I frequent the next trip to Japan next year.
But Koya, still dial kurz for.
Yeah, Colja Harders.
And unser Hauptjob is it with Hamburger Unternehmen in the Welt to gehen, neue Wachstumsmärkte zu erschließen und interessante Länder in den Focus zu nehmen.
And here in the Indien.
And wie siehst du die Chancen, dass wir mehr Zusammenarbeit zwischen Indien and Deutschland haben, dass wir diese wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen, dass wir das wirklich ausbauen können?
Die sind derzeit sehr hoch, weil wir tatsächlich auf der einen Seite als politische Strategie gesetzt haben, zu diversifizieren, die Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zu anderen Handelspartnern auszubauen, die bisher nicht im Fokus standen.
Erstens.
Zweitens have the EU Freihandelsabkommen anders von Kanzler Merz for three weeks, ein Momentum in den Deutsch-Indische Beziehungen, die den Markt und die Markterschließung deutsche firms here in India zu lassen, to expand and betray, auf the one side of the growth regulatory hurden, and of the other side, where it cultural some teacher schwierights, while it's all corruption gave.
Historisch had other industrien as Hafen and Luftwaffe the Vorherrschaft here, inner bilateral bezig between Deutschland and Indian.
And it richts the Blick Richtung Technologies.
Perspektive of Hafen, Logistic and Civil Luftfahrt and we let them stark off the Indian Talent.
That unglaublich vielza of talented young men, who of the one side help unseres, unsere technologies hoch innovativ to gestalten anders and the shit in the Zukunft to employ the one side.
And of the other side is it a talent in this land, which durchaus potential has unserem lösen.
Yeah, that's interesting and I think that stimmt.
This year are in Deutschland 500,000 in rented in the pension.
That's we can drink Fachkräfte.
And my next guest, Jessica Rios, the Gründerin of Job Match can be able to do it.
But Koya, it was a freight, and this next one.
Bis zum nächsten Mal.
Hello Jessica.
Freut mich sehr that you done both.
You are a gründer and gründerin with migrations, when we say, but we have Mexico comes and I think Gründer with Migrationshinter, this is the endruckenstein cohorte.
And why you to reisen.
I'm for two things are.
Erstmal, I've been super interested, what is the failure?
We have a super mangel, hast du gerade gesagt, of 500,000, and in 2030, 5 million that is fair.
And that is a whole number.
And I should have this look at it.
And that is where we come, and two is actually AI, and we have take HR, and this is what we wanted to say.
Okay, as we show and see from them, and that's the ground where I come.
Can you in Hindu or how quasi the land in How to AI is?
Number one.
And number two, I'm gonna go, what Job Match.
That we have 10 years, and there are folks.
We are in Deutschland, Osterreich, the Schweiz, Poland and England.
I think we have not new and innovatives getting a little basic job, also basic arbeites, what I became.
But my gear is another okay, then I'm not so my feeling is that it kochen all with wasser.
Equal if in India, in China, or in the USA.
That's that in Deutschland so we are not so quite back from the global standards.
And that gives me.
And then we say, okay, we can we have the talented 5% come from elite universities.
And we have an elite university and a driver university, it are when we talent to Deutschland bringing one.
We have great wetbewerb mit USA, Australia, Canada, the Gulf Staten, die nehmen einfach diese Fachkräfte.
Also das heißt, ja, es gibt viel Talente hier, aber es gibt auch viel bewert für diese Top-Talente.
Und das alles, was da, was die nicht die zweite Talente oder die zweite, weiß ich nicht, wie ich das sagen kann, aber die nicht die Top-Talent sind, die sind wirklich in Basic.
Und da denke ich, okay, da gibt es auch Potenzial für die Talente in Deutschland und für die Technologie und Innovation in Deutschland.
Gibt es Erfahrungswerte, was diese Top-Talente tun, wenn wir sie als Deutschland quasi anziehen wollen?
Was da funktioniert?
Also wir müssen uns ja eigentlich das dann als Land attraktiver machen, wie so ein Branding, also wie so ein Arbeitgeber, ja, der irgendwie Obstkörper aufstellt.
Wir waren gerade bei einem der großen Tech-Arbeitgeber und haben gesehen, dass die inzwischen dafür sorgen, dass die Entwickler möglichst viel Licht haben.
Wir waren in einem Gebäude, in dem es Krankenräume gab und so weiter, aber die tatsächlich damit werben, dass sie die Quadratmeterzahl pro Mitarbeiter hochgefahren haben.
Ich glaube, ich weiß nicht, ob man in Deutschland darüber nachdenkt, aber grundsätzlich, das müssten wir quasi analog dann ja als Land auch machen, um uns attraktiver gestaltet für all diese Fachkräfte im Vergleich zu den Golfstaaten, die vielleicht auch näher dran sind und dann auch näher an der Familie sind.
Aber weißt du, was quasi was diese AAA-Fachkräfte aus den Top-Unis?
Was finden die attraktiv oder weshalb kommen die nach Deutschland?
Also viele kommen tatsächlich Werte, also die Werte, die in Europa haben.
Jetzt mit der Situation in den USA, dann sind auch, oder man sagt das auch, ich habe keine Daten jetzt zu sagen, aber dass das mehr attraktiv wird.
Also mit den Leuten, die ich gesprochen habe, habe ich gefragt, okay, würde ich nach USA oder nach Deutschland oder in Europa, egal.
Und mein nein, ich würde nach Europa lieber gehen als USA.
Das fand ich super interessant.
Und zweitens, ich glaube, was kann Deutschland machen, um attraktiver to have in other guests and it was said, hey Leute, bitte speak of English in the companies.
That was so einfach.
Yeah, also I can say in Hamburg and I've been in another art in a group of company, also a growth concerned.
Yeah, in Volkswagen, and we have no Deutsch gesprochen.
And I think that we have violent given when we are English embrace and English spread in Deutschland.
Yeah, that can bestow.
And damit konnten we am marked up, music.
Also we had so talented entwickers.
And I finde, das ist so ein bisschen beruhigend, auch for the deutsche Seele, dass wir noch nicht komplett abgehängt sind und am Ende der Entwicklungsstand auf der IT-Seite einigermaßen gleich ist.
Also, vielen Dank für deine Zeit.
Sehr gerne, vielen Dank.
And I wünsche uns für morgen einen guten Flug.
Ja, vielen Dank, morgen geht's zurück nach Deutschland.
Vielen Dank fürs Zuhören.
Hat mich sehr gefreut and bis bald.
Bye bye.