ISRO reached the moon for a fraction of the cost of a Hollywood movie: Former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

Former Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant encouraged young entrepreneurs to “do more for less” and build sovereign frontier models based on indigenous datasets.

By sovereign frontier models, he meant India should strive to develop its capabilities in deeptech areas such as artificial intelligence and space exploration, thereby reducing its dependence on foreign systems.

Exhorting startups to work in a cost-effective manner, Kant cited the example of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).


"We must achieve more with less, just as ISRO has done in space. If ISRO can launch missions, reach space, and land on the moon at a fraction of the cost of a Hollywood movie like Galaxy, startups can do the same,” he said.

Speaking at Startup Mahakumbh, Kant stated that open-source is the future and India should continue to innovate in an agile, energy-efficient, and cost-effective manner.

"The world is shifting towards open-source, enabling major innovations like quantum computing. It is crucial for India to maintain its sovereignty in technological advancements and lead from the front,” he added.

Urging startups to take advantage of India’s diversity, he stated that artificial intelligence can make this possible by building multilingual and multimodal systems.

Kant also discussed the importance of leveraging AI to make technology accessible to all, particularly in rural areas, citing the success of the Bhashini initiative.

“We must be able to do exactly what we have done with Bhashini, where a person living in a rural area can fill up his form using his voice. We must be able to have voice, in all dialects, in all languages possible. And that, only AI will be able to do,” he said.