Is India Behind US, China In AI? IT Minister, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Respond At Davos

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna pushed back against claims that India lags in tech innovation, defending the country's role in enterprise AI during a high-stakes panel at Davos with Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Speaking with NDTV CEO and Editor-In-Chief Rahul Kanwal, Krishna dismissed criticism that Indian firms lack fundamental, breakthrough research. "That criticism is not fair," he said. "The majority of work in India isn't about creating new applications from scratch, it's about evolving and maintaining them. That involves deep enterprise and AI innovation."

Krishna mapped how tech revolutions shift value from infrastructure like semiconductors to operating systems, and eventually to applications. "In less than ten years, 90% of value moves to innovative apps," he said. "If India taps into that transition, it can unlock a boom in innovation and capital."