New Delhi, Sept. 28 -- Deep tech founders building for India's problems or gaps are addressing only a narrow slice of the opportunity in most areas. Our deep tech ambition must not be limited to building only for Indian customers.

Semiconductors, advanced materials, industrial robotics, aerospace components, defence hardware, scientific instruments - none of these businesses works at an India-only scale. Their economy needs global customers to work. So, the real question isn't whether India can build deep tech for itself. It's whether India can become the place where the world's frontier technology gets built, tested and scaled - even when India accounts for a fraction of its buyers.

We have already seen this playing out in payments - w...