Kris Gopalakrishnan
COIMBATORE: India must transition from a services-led economy to one driven by products and intellectual property (IP) if it is to become a developed nation and achieve a $30trillion economy by 2047, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan said on Tuesday. Today, the industry generates more than $300 billion in revenue, including around $220 billion in export revenue”, contributing significantly to India’s foreign exchange reserves and balance of payments. The event marked 75 years of PSG College of Technology. The institution honoured five distinguished alumni with the Distinguished Alumni Awards 2026 for their outstanding professional achievements.
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Addressing students at PSG College of Technology’s Foundation Day celebrations in Coimbatore, Gopalakrishnan said India needed to own the products and technologies it created instead of limiting itself to manufacturing or providing services for global companies. “True value occurs when we have ownership of IP and products,” he said, adding that India currently captured only a small share of the value generated from products made and exported from the country. Gopalakrishnan said India’s IT services industry had demonstrated that the country could build globally competitive businesses. He said, “We did not just build Infosys; we built an industry. “India has become the default location for research, software and engineering services,” he said, pointing to the presence of global capability and research centres of several multinational companies in the country. He said emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, offered India an opportunity to create new companies, products and leadership, just as the personal computer revolution had helped establish the IT services industry. “India will be the laboratory for the world for creating a 21st century economy that is inclusive, affordable, accessible and sustainable,” he said, citing initiatives such as low-cost vaccines and the Unified Payments Interface as examples of Indian innovation with global relevance.
He cited the manufacture of smartphones in India, saying the larger share of value continued to accrue to the overseas owners of the brands and technology. Gopalakrishnan urged students to focus on knowledge creation, innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship. He stressed lifelong learning, ethics, integrity, trust-building and nation-building as essential to India’s long-term growth. Gopalakrishnan, who is also chairman of Axilor Ventures and a trustee of Pratiksha Trust and Pratithi Investment Trust, was the chief guest. The awardees were Surya Prakash Kolluri, head, TIAA Institute, Boston, US; Savithri Seetharaman, vice-president, Texas Instruments, Bengaluru; Girish Ramachandran, president, Growth Markets, Tata Consultancy Services, Singapore; Babu Krishnasamy, founder/CEO, KANINI, Nashville, US; and A Sivagnanam, IAS, commissioner, disaster management, Tamil Nadu govt. The ceremony featured the unveiling of the platinum jubilee souvenir by the chief guest, with G R Karthikeyan, founder trustee & chairman, PSG & Sons’ Charities, receiving the first copy. Download the TOI App.