Episode 45: Conversation with Indian Secretary S. Krishnan from MEITY

On the margins of the India-US Forum in New Delhi, SCSP President Ylli Bajraktari sat down for a new episode of Memos to the President with S. Krishnan, Secretary of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), alongside SCSP Senior Advisor Dr. Sameer Lalwani.  Secretary Krishnan is leading one of the most transformative tech efforts in the world today. As the architect of India's digital future, he is steering a $10 billion semiconductor strategy and deploying 40,000 GPUs to local innovators at a third of global market cost.  The conversation focused on three core strategic pillars:  1. India's Vision for AI: How India is leveraging a mix of sovereign and open-source models to rapidly scale its domestic ecosystem — and why India's comparative advantage lies in the application layer, not the frontier model race.  2. Taking the US-India Tech Relationship to the Next Level: Moving beyond the status quo to focus on the real opportunities ahead — specifically how the two nations can collaborate to navigate a world beyond Pax Sinica.  3. India's Global Tech Ambitions: How India is positioning itself as a diversified, democratic alternative in global semiconductor supply chains and a trusted tech partner for the Global South.  The global tech landscape is shifting rapidly, and New Delhi is right at the center of it. Check out their conversation on the SCSP YouTube channel!Memos to the President Podcast is a product of the Special Competitive Studies Project.