India targets tech resilience, not self-sufficiency, with 20-25-year roadmap, Ashwini Vaishnaw says

Ashwini Vaishnaw said India is creating a technology roadmap covering 20 to 25 years. Its purpose is to reduce vulnerabilities caused by dependence on foreign technology and supplies. India wants greater control over strategically important capabilities while continuing to work with global partners.

The plan uses three time horizons. India will set goals for three to five years, targets for five to 15 years, and broader ambitions for 20 to 25 years. These periods allow immediate actions to support longer efforts, such as developing a complete semiconductor ecosystem and improving research.

The strategy is not isolation. Vaishnaw said technology supply chains will remain global and spread across many countries. India therefore wants to become a trusted partner in those chains. The approach is designed to help the country withstand policy changes, geopolitical tensions, financial shocks, and future technological disruption.

Technology resilience is the ability to withstand disruptions without allowing critical shortages or policy changes to cripple production and the economy. India is identifying dependencies that could become dangerous if other countries change their policies or if geopolitical tensions interrupt supplies.

Complete self-sufficiency would mean trying to produce everything domestically. Vaishnaw described a different approach. India would build capabilities in strategically important areas, while technology supply chains continue to span multiple countries. The key mechanism is identifying which dependencies are risky and reducing those risks.

This model keeps India connected to global value chains while protecting its room to act during disruption. The country aims to become a trusted technology partner, rather than withdraw from international production. Its resilience plans also cover financial, economic, and technological pressures, including future effects from artificial intelligence and debt problems.

India is organizing its technology planning across three time horizons. Short-term goals cover three to five years. Medium-term targets cover five to 15 years. Long-term goals extend across 20 to 25 years.

The division creates a staged planning system. Near-term goals can address urgent dependencies and build momentum. Medium-term targets can expand domestic capabilities and strengthen partnerships. Long-term goals can support complex efforts that require sustained investment, such as a complete semiconductor ecosystem and deeper research capacity.

Vaishnaw said the overall focus is resilience, not isolation. India wants to develop strategically important capabilities while staying integrated with global value chains. The long horizon reflects his warning that geopolitics and technology change over time. India must therefore keep calibrating its approach instead of treating the roadmap as a fixed, one-time plan.

If critical technology supplies are disrupted, India’s production could become vulnerable to decisions made abroad. Changing foreign policies or geopolitical tensions might restrict access to important inputs. That could affect industries that depend on international supply chains and place pressure on the wider economy.

Vaishnaw said India is identifying these dependencies before they become major weaknesses. The response is to build domestic capabilities in strategically important areas and ensure that partnerships do not compromise resilience. This does not mean replacing every foreign supplier. It means reducing exposure where a disruption could cause serious harm.

The minister also warned of broader future turbulence. He pointed to artificial intelligence disrupting employment, especially in services, and debt levels in advanced economies becoming a problem. India is therefore preparing its financial, economic, and technological resilience alongside supply-chain planning.

India needs to develop the supporting inputs that make semiconductor production possible. Vaishnaw specifically named materials, chemicals, gases, and substrate materials. These must grow alongside chip design and manufacturing. Without them, factories may still depend on vulnerable overseas supplies.

The key mechanism is ecosystem development. A chip factory does not operate alone. It relies on a dependable network of inputs and supporting capabilities. India’s second semiconductor programme phase places greater emphasis on these areas. Building them requires time and sustained effort rather than a quick expansion of factory capacity.

This focus reflects India’s broader resilience strategy. Domestic capabilities can reduce critical dependencies while partnerships keep India connected to global value chains. The country is also trying to move up the mobile phone supply chain, from assembly toward modules, components, and exports. Semiconductor development follows the same gradual logic.

India’s approach is to strengthen capabilities where dependence could threaten production or economic stability. It can develop domestic strengths in areas such as semiconductor inputs, chip manufacturing, research, and telecom technology. At the same time, it can keep using international partnerships and cross-border supply chains.

The mechanism is selective resilience. India identifies strategic dependencies, then reduces the most dangerous vulnerabilities without trying to produce everything itself. Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins called India’s combination of strategic capability-building and trusted partnerships a practical path toward technology sovereignty.

This approach also has a working example. India developed an end-to-end 4G telecom stack through government-private sector collaboration in three-and-a-half years. Vaishnaw said it is deployed on more than 100,000 towers. Such projects show how public support and private expertise can build important systems while India remains part of a global technology industry.

Chip manufacturing depends on more than a factory or a design team. It needs reliable materials, chemicals, gases, and substrate materials, along with research and development. Equipment and skilled workers are also essential in practice because they allow facilities to make, test, and improve complex products. The article specifically emphasizes the need for this broader ecosystem.

The key mechanism is coordination. Each supporting capability must be available at the right quality and scale. If one critical input is missing, manufacturing efforts can struggle even when a factory exists. That is why India’s second semiconductor programme phase gives greater attention to inputs beyond design and manufacturing.

Vaishnaw said ecosystem-building takes time and sustained effort. India’s mobile phone industry illustrates gradual progress from assembly to modules and components, with some components now exported. Semiconductor manufacturing is expected to require a similar long-term build-out of capabilities.