New Delhi, March 31 -- India's economic rise over the past two decades has been powered by a familiar set of forces: consumption growth, an expanding services sector, broad-based entrepreneurship, and rapid digital adoption. These drivers will continue to matter. But as India's ambitions scale, the country now has an opportunity to add a more durable growth engine - one centred on innovation, product creation, intellectual property, and technological capability.

This distinction is critical for global investors. An innovation-led economy is not defined by the number of startups or the diffusion of digital tools. It is defined by the ability to build original products, develop proprietary technologies, deepen engineering capability across...