"CEO Chief Ministers": Nikhil Kamath On What India Can Learn From China

"Why can't chief ministers of Indian states be like CEOs of corporations and compete with each other?" That's what investor and entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath believes India needs to learn from China to make big things happen.

Speaking to NDTV CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal at the NDTV World Summit, Kamath said that India has the opportunity to build a great tech company, but what it lacks is the "risk capital" similar to the US and China.

"I've been spending a fair amount of time around the frontier model guys. They have a lot more capital, risk capital at hand, to experiment and try different things. I don't see how an Indian company, or for that matter any company outside of those two or three countries where there is that much risk capital, can have a fair shot at competing in that layer. It would be really hard. I think the odds are low."

He, however, pointed out that the cost of setting up a company is much cheaper in India than in many places.

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"The one thing people don't take cognizance of when it comes to India is that the cost of putting on a megawatt is probably 30-40% cheaper than it is in the West. Somebody who's doing the plumbing and the piping around a data center in America gets paid $300,000. The same person here makes a lot less money. We also don't take cognizance of the fact that power in India is actually significantly cheaper than in many geographies in the world," he said.

Nikhil Kamath with Rahul Kanwal At NDTV World Summit
Photo Credit: NDTV Photo

To the question of what China has figured out about building an AI ecosystem that India hasn't been able to, Kamath pointed out that India can learn from competition between Chinese provinces which is almost like corporate rivalry.

"China claims not to be capitalist but when I'm in China it almost feels like the state is capitalist in itself. Every municipality or the mayor of each province competes with another province like he were a capitalistic organization," the Zerodha founder noted.

He continued: "The one thing that maybe we can change and learn from China is to allow for different provinces or states to compete with one another like they were a capitalistic organization itself? Maybe the chief minister of a state could operate like the CEO of the state."

Kamath, a school dropout, is best known as the co-founder of Zerodha, one of India's largest stockbroking firms. He has also invested in several businesses, including Licious, Nourish You, Pee Safe, Subko, and Ather, an electric scooter maker. In 2025, he bought a 5 per cent stake in D'yavol Spirits, a company founded by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his son Aryan Khan.

Kamath is also involved in philanthropy and environmental work. He has signed the Giving Pledge, an initiative started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and has promised to donate at least 50 per cent of his wealth to charitable causes.