India's Prime Minister says the country's startups will define the next decade, becoming the multinational corporations that drive a self-reliant economy.
India has spent decades welcoming multinational corporations through its doors following the liberalization policies of the 1990s. International companies arrived, set up operations, and in many cases thrived in one of the world's largest consumer markets. But the balance is shifting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that this decade will belong to Indian-born companies, not foreign entrants. Speaking during the foundation stone laying ceremony for the permanent campus of IIM-Sambalpur in Odisha, he told attendees that today's startups are the multinational corporations of tomorrow. The statement was not aspirational rhetoric. It was a direct signal of where the government sees the country's economic trajectory heading.
The virtual event marked a milestone for the institution, which had been operating out of a makeshift campus for five years. But the larger message extended well beyond brick and mortar. Modi connected the growth of India's startup ecosystem directly to the goal of "Aatmanirbhar Bharat," the government's push for a self-reliant India. Business schools, particularly the Indian Institutes of Management, are expected to play a central role in this transformation by producing the managerial talent needed to scale these young companies into global competitors.
What makes this moment different from previous generations of government-led economic campaigns is where the energy is actually coming from. The majority of new startups are not emerging from the traditional tech hubs of Bengaluru or Hyderabad. They are surfacing in Tier-II and Tier-III cities across the country. Modi acknowledged this shift explicitly, noting that these startups need professional managers to grow and that young people must prepare themselves for the opportunities heading their way. The message to students was straightforward: align your career ambitions with the aspirations of the country, because the two are becoming inseparable.
The Prime Minister also pressed IIM-Sambalpur students to look beyond the classroom and engage with the local community in Odisha. His phrase, "turn local into global," captured the essence of what he wants these institutions to produce: managers who can take regional talent, resources, and ideas and give them international relevance. He identified three guiding principles for this new era of management: innovation, integrity, and inclusion. These are not abstract ideals. They are the operational framework through which the Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission is expected to succeed, relying on collaborative and transformative thinking rather than top-down mandates.
"Management experts graduating in new areas of knowledge will help the startups in taking India to new heights," Modi said. "They will also help in giving global recognition to India." He pointed to a telling data point to reinforce his argument. Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, India produced the highest number of new unicorns this year. That record is not a coincidence. It reflects a maturing ecosystem where capital, talent, and ambition are converging at speed.
The challenge now is execution. Producing unicorns is one thing. Building durable multinational corporations that can compete with established global players is another. That transition requires a different caliber of management talent, one that understands both domestic complexity and international markets. Institutions like IIM-Sambalpur are being positioned as the bridge between those two worlds. Whether they can deliver on that promise will determine if India's startup decade lives up to its billing or remains an ambitious slogan.
