On October 25, 2023, Asia Society Northern California hosted a discussion on the current state of India’s markets which revolved around several topics such as Venture Capitalism, Unified Payments Interface, India’s rapid development, and emerging leadership.

Asia Society board member Ambassador Frank Lavin kicked off the event by setting the stage with India’s progression and prominence as a trading partner with the United States. Andy Tsao (Managing Director and lead of Silicon Valley Banks Global Gateway and Asia Society) then followed and emphasized the work of Silicon Valley Bank in India, and the rapid growth of the venture capital market in India over the last few years. Liz Cahill, (Senior Technology researcher at Silicon Valley Bank) presented on Silicon Valley Bank’s State of the Markets: India Report. She began by highlighting India’s overall dominance on the world stage which included India being the first country to land a satellite on the south side of the moon using world-class, cost-effective infrastructure. She then focused on the growth of India’s digital infrastructure and the growth of companies like PayPal which have facilitated approximately 2 trillion transactions in 2023. She also spoke about the growth of Foreign Direct Investments due to the current government scheme Make In India, which has pushed big companies like Samsung, Amazon, and Facebook to invest more in India. In addition, she spotlighted India’s 120% growth in Venture Capitalism, and the Indian diaspora’s powerful influence and success. 

Ella-Tamar Adhanan (Vice President of Silicon Valley Bank's Global Gateway) then moderated a panel discussion with renown panelists renowned panelists for our discussion included Jishnu Bhattacharjee (Managing Director at Nexus Venture Partners), Kirthiga Reddy (CEO of Virtualness), and Priya Saiprasad (Co-Founder and General Partner at Touring Capital. Kirthiga spoke about being part of the initial Facebook team in India and seeing the users grow rapidly from 100 million to over 700 million. She also commented on applications of generative AI, the presence of immense talent in India even in lesser-known cities, and shared the importance of mentorship and community within the Indian diaspora. Jishnu explored a plethora of topics including the nascent stages of Venture Capitalism, the role of technology being an enabler, and the hybridity of the Indian digital start-up model which seems to be based on China and Israel. Lastly, Priya spoke about the strength of Indian entrepreneurs, software engineers, and AI experts. Following, she discussed the importance of increasing return on investments and the higher rates of efficiency in India that outdo other leaders in the field.

Following the panel discussion, guests enjoyed a wonderful reception and networking session.