In this episode of The Neon Show, we have Sharad Sharma, founder of iSPIRT, the technology think tank behind India Stack, Health Stack, and other digital public goods.

If you want to understand where India’s digital space is headed, how AI can shape its future, and why strategic autonomy is critical, this episode is a must-watch!

0:00 – Introduction
03:12 – India’s aim to prevent digital colonization
05:00 – Democratising digital infrastructure
07:09 – UPI’s 2012 vision: intraday loan for Rajni
12:50 – The origin of ‘DPI’ & misconceptions in India
14:46 – Can India keep its first-mover advantage in DPI?
16:15 – How UPI lost to Brazil’s PIX
17:49 – Introduction to MOSIP & DEPA
19:22 – Did UPI fail to detach from government control?
20:33 – The world evaluates DPI with India’s 5 sutras
22:48 – DPI interoperability & India’s global leadership
25:23 – Managing $2-3 billion funding in India’s DPI ecosystem
27:03 – Why India must stay paranoid: The David vs. Goliath mindset
30:09 – Sam Altman doubted India’s AI, now wants in
33:25 – Facebook opposed net neutrality in India, backed it in the U.S.
36:46 – Regulatory Innovations: Cable TV, mutual funds & OTAs
40:19 – Did GST replace 4 tax filings with 36?
44:05 – Does India have a regulatory framework for digital?
51:06 – Scaling 10-100 with help from educational institutions
53:02 – Breaking away from Visa & Mastercard
55:47 – The ‘Stay in India’ checklist to bring back talent
59:58 – Grading India on DPI globalization
01:00:57 – U.S. antitrust battles & how they shaped big tech
01:08:25 – Building India’s AI ecosystem using its data advantage
01:12:50 – Picking India’s battles in AI: healthcare as an opportunity
01:15:00 – Can India build its own AI assistants?
01:17:56 – Why India must update academia & build industrial labs
01:22:18 – DEPA: Enabling Low-Cost Access to Non-Public Data
01:27:55 – UPI was age & color blind, DEPA won’t be
01:31:06 – How will India approach AI regulation?
01:39:05 – Creating ‘landing spots’ for Indian AI talent
01:41:53 – Five key actions for India’s AI success
01:45:01 – Hiring call for India’s AI & DPI visionaries
01:51:55 – Building Co’s for India’s strategic autonomy
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Hi, I am your host Siddhartha! I have been an entrepreneur from 2012-2017 building two products AddoDoc and Babygogo. After selling my company to SHEROES, I and my partner Nansi decided to start up again. But we felt unequipped in our skillset in 2018 to build a large company. We had known 0-1 journeys from our startups but lacked the experience of building 1-10 journeys.

Hence was born The Neon Show (Earlier 100x Entrepreneur) to learn from founders and investors, the mindset to scale yourself and your company. This quest still keeps us excited even after 5 years and doing 200+ episodes.

We welcome you to our journey to understand what goes behind building a super successful company. Every episode is done with a very selfish motive, that I and Nansi should come out as a better entrepreneur and professional after absorbing the learnings.
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Connect with Siddhartha on:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthaahluwalia/
Twitter: https://x.com/siddharthaa7
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This video is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the individuals quoted and do not constitute professional advice.

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Sharad Sharma On India’s Digital Playbook, UPI’s Rise & AI’s Future