India is standing at the edge of a 100‑year opportunity.

Every few decades, a country hits an inflection point where long‑term policy, global realignment and domestic ambition all line up. For India, that moment is now. The Viksit Bharat @ 2047 vision is no longer a slogan; it is a question of whether we control the deep technologies that power our nation.

Over the last 10 years, significant policy changes and the push for indigenization has led to a lot of assembly moving to India. 

But this is not enough. The critical technology components are still, in many cases, imported. To achieve Viksit Bharat in 2047, we have to win in deep tech, not just scale up factories.

This year’s Digitizing Make in India 3.0 report lays out something deeper than sector analysis. It offers a national operating system for how India can move from import dependency to design, development, and dominance.

So what must India change to become a deep‑tech global superpower by 2047?

Five Things India Must Do Now

To build a deep‑tech nation, India needs five big shifts, in policy, capital and talent.

1.Become an R&D Nation, Not Just an Assemble Nation

India still spendsz under 1% of GDP on R&D, far below the US (3.5%) and China (2.4%). We need a robust research environment with a pull for global talent to build in India. 

With multi-year, mission-led R&D projects co-funded with industry, India is sure to have a faster pathway from lab to market. 

If 2015-25 was the decade of scale, 2025-35 has to be the decade of R&D.

2. Put More PhDs Inside Factories, Not Only in Academia

India does not lack talent; it lacks where that talent sits.

We need PhD‑level researchers and specialists working in factories, design centres and foundries, not only in universities and overseas labs. 

With attractive return‑to‑India tracks for global Indian researchers, university tie-ups and ready-to use lab infrastructure, we can truly build a robust foundation for homegrown innovation.

3. Crack The Mid-Stack: Components, Materials and Subsystems

This is India’s deepest capability gap. 

Policy and capital both need to shift from finished goods to upstream value creation. Incentives that reward local design (DLIs) and manufacture of critical components (PLIs) and support for high‑capex deep tech plants are the key.

4. Turn Clusters into Real, Dense, Multi‑sector Engines

Innovation thrives when everything is close: talent, testing, design, and suppliers. That’s why India must build dense, multi-sector clusters, not scattered industrial pockets.

India’s next policy push should continue creating real, fully-equipped clusters with the relevant ecosystem in close proximity. By building process‑engineering academies inside clusters, MSMEs can rapidly develop the skills needed for advanced manufacturing.

5. Make AI a factory default, Not a Sideshow

India now has the building blocks: a national compute mission, rapidly growing data centre capacity and a strong software base. The next step is to wire AI directly into manufacturing: from design to final production.

With large government initiatives like the India AI mission, we can truly change the default way India builds.

Five Deep Tech Opportunities for India

Once these five shifts are in motion, the opportunities are enormous.

1. The Compute Stack: Build a Design-First Approach

There is a huge whitespace for India to own the design and critical parts of the stack: chip design, advanced packaging, power electronics, high‑value components and the AI hardware that runs on top.

2. India‑Focused Robotics for Factories and Defence

There is a huge opportunity to build “India‑backwards” robotic systems designed from day one for Indian data, cost structures and operating conditions. For example, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and quadrupedal robotic dogs for surveillance and high-risk missions

3. Defence Platforms, Sensors and Dual‑Use Systems

India should focus on building high‑value subsystems (propulsion, avionics, advanced materials, sensors), which still come from abroad.

The defence budget has doubled in 10 years, with 92% of contracts in FY25 given to Indian manufacturers. The next frontier is clear: scale a strong defence-export corridor and establish India as a global supplier.

4. Energy, Storage and The Grid

To meet its 500 GW renewable energy 2030 targets, India will need hundreds of batteries for mobility and stationary storage. Inside that lies large opportunities in materials, chemistries, recycling, and power electronics.

On the grid side, there is equally large room for innovation: transformers, cables, smart‑metering components and the software layers that manage distributed energy. 

5. Pharma, Biotech and The Next‑Gen CRDMO Stack

There is space to build integrated platforms that go from discovery to development to manufacturing, with AI woven into drug design and process optimization.

What’s Next

If we make these five shifts, the five deep tech opportunity tracks above can create a large, globally competitive ecosystem where a major share of India’s 2047 economy is driven by Indian products and IP.

The next decade will be defined by founders, researchers and policymakers who choose the “difficult but necessary” problems: the components, materials, subsystems and platforms that are easy to ignore and impossible to substitute.

If we get this right, this will be the decade India becomes a builder’s nation again.