New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- When I first heard of DeepSeek, my immediate reaction was one of disappointment. Everyone else was raving about the capabilities of the model and the frugality with which it had been trained, but I couldn't get past the fact that China demonstrated the 'jugaad' I was expecting India to show. DeepSeek proves that it is possible for cutting-edge AI to emerge even under constraints, thanks to workarounds. For India, this should be as much a warning as an inspiration.

I am somewhat surprised to find ourselves in this position. After all, we have a reputation of being an IT powerhouse. In 1992, India's software exports were just Rs.17 crore. By 2022, that figure had exploded to Rs.8.48 lakh crores-a 16,000-fold increase....