India Should Focus on AI Applications, Not Just Models: Kamath

Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of the Zerodha financial platform, outlined a strategic vision for India's artificial intelligence sector at the NDTV World Summit 2026, arguing that the country should pursue a differentiated approach to AI development rather than chase global leaders in foundational model creation.

Kamath emphasized that India's competitive advantage lies not in replicating Silicon Valley's path of building large language models from scratch, but in identifying and capitalizing on application-layer opportunities. By focusing on practical use cases built atop existing AI technology platforms, India can leverage its substantial talent pool and domain expertise more effectively, he suggested.

The entrepreneur's perspective reflects a growing recognition within India's technology sector that competing directly with well-capitalized American and Chinese firms in core AI infrastructure development may not represent the most efficient allocation of resources. Instead, India's entrepreneurs and startups could capture significant value by creating sector-specific solutions in areas such as healthcare, fintech, agriculture, and manufacturing.

Kamath's remarks align with broader discussions about India's positioning within the global AI ecosystem, where the country aims to become a hub for innovation without necessarily matching the capital intensity of frontier AI research. The approach suggests India could develop substantial economic value and technical expertise by focusing on the application layer while potentially collaborating with or building upon existing foundational models.

Photo: Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath at the Young Entrepreneur Awards, March 2015. Brian452 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).