Mukund Krishna

Over the last few months, we've been looking deeply into data on India's manufacturing workforce. We looked at the datasets that measure manufacturing employment (https://lnkd.in/gA8bncQt), at factory employment (https://lnkd.in/gJu4Uq38), unorganised manufacturing (https://lnkd.in/gKaY3tBh) and women in manufacturing (https://lnkd.in/g3uAPbah). But one data point caught our attention - tailors. One in six Indians working in manufacturing, and one in three women in the manufacturing workforce, is a 'custom tailor'. Of the 14 million new manufacturing jobs added between 2018 and 2024, five million were in custom tailoring alone. For this piece for Data For India, Nileena Suresh looked more closely at who India's custom tailors really are. She found that most are women, self-employed and work from home. Many do this work alongside household chores. Wages are low. Alongside this examination of custom tailoring work, she also looked at the evolution of this category in Indian data - there's been much debate about whether this is a manufacturing job at all. (If it weren't counted as manufacturing, manufacturing job growth in India would look very different.) Read our work on custom tailoring here: https://lnkd.in/gtCW49uw

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Grateful to be in rooms where good things are happening. Thanks to 📚 Chirag Patel for being a leader of leaders bringing AI experts and, just as importantly, caring, fascinating, grounded thinkers together. Appreciate Pankaj Singal leading our conversation with a very practical personal story that drove an illuminating discussion. Many takeaways, here are a few from the least smart person in the room: - Before you start solving a burning issue with AI agents, push further back in the value chain. Why do the problems we’re solving for exist? Did we get strategy wrong —> it created unnecessary complexity —> and now we’re deploying AI agents to connect broken bridges? What if the bridges we built were not where we should have been going in the first place? - What if solving pain points becomes so easy that we evolve business into: AI agents that can deploy more bandaids (quantity) that hold better (quality) than humans ever could, but at the end of the day they are just bandaids? Consider two businesses: one has an impressive array of AI agents connecting all the nodes that were previously siloed or had shaky connections. The other has a similar capability, but every time before the business deploys the bandaids it first rolls back to the original node and asks, “Did we begin in the right place, with an accurate understanding of the full forest? Is this a node we should have built in the first place?” - Questions that I’m sure experts have answers or thoughts on that I’m rolling over in my mind: What is the foundation of language? Where did it begin? Why? How did it evolve? What is the quark-level purpose and structure? What within language is more than just words? If nothing else, those questions lead me to consider the words I use every day — that they matter, they have meaning, and should be used wisely with generosity, curiosity, compassion, and love. In addition to Chirag, we had a few other Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management fellow alumni join — Andrew Cron, Hillery Goodgame, MBA, and Venkat Iyer. Grateful to everyone in the room for adding their brilliance to the discussion and for their patience with those of us who are not experts as we learn.

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ExecutiveRoundtable.org, Chairman’s Highlights! We catch up with Namita Jindal, Chief Information Officer at CentralSquare Technologies, a leader in public sector software solutions. Namita has been instrumental in driving innovation and operational excellence at CentralSquare, leveraging her extensive experience in business strategy and technology. Here, she shares her insights on the business climate for the rest of 2025 and the key factors influencing the industry. Namita: "At CentralSquare, we are deeply committed to enhancing the digital presence and operational efficiency of public sector agencies. Our mission-critical software solutions, ranging from Computer-aided Dispatch and Next-Generation 911 to Finance, Asset Management, and Permitting, are designed to help public agencies and their communities flourish in new ways The public sector is increasingly recognizing the value of digital transformation, and we are well-positioned to support this shift with our comprehensive suite of solutions. What excites me the most is the potential for innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence and data analytics. Our Generative AI initiatives are already showing promising results in improving our customer experience while we continue to innovate. We are investing heavily in cybersecurity and compliance to address the unique challenges of the public sector, including privacy concerns related to GAI. Ensuring that we have the right talent and resources to drive this innovation is essential. The shifting landscape of talent and staffing, especially with the rise of hybrid work, requires us to be agile and adaptive. Artificial intelligence versus human intelligence is another area of interest. While AI can significantly enhance our capabilities, it is crucial to strike a balance and ensure that human expertise remains at the core of our operations. We are committed to fostering a collaborative environment where AI and human intelligence complement each other to deliver the best outcomes for our customers. At CentralSquare, we believe in giving back to the community. Our social responsibility initiatives include volunteerism and charitable donations, and we strive to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. Personally, I am passionate about driving transformation and innovation, and I am proud to be part of a company that is making a real difference in the public sector." Namita's leadership and vision continue to drive CentralSquare's success, making it a pivotal player in the public sector software industry. Her dedication to innovation, operational excellence, and community engagement sets a high standard for the industry.

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CX is about the Complete Experience, combining core and ancilliary experiences. On Broadway it extends from ticket booking to post-show entertainment. I talk to Srinivas B Vijayaraghavan on Zykrr — The CX Monetization Company’s CX Monetization podcast about the challenges of creating a Complete Experience in theater shows and how brands can to be thinking about it. #cx #customerexperience #broadway

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This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics acknowledges the groundbreaking research that underpins approximately 90% of quantum computers currently in operation, including those developed by Google, IBM, and Rigetti. I am grateful to India Today for providing an opportunity to elucidate the intricacies of this research to a broader audience. For further reading, please refer to the following link: Link: https://lnkd.in/ge2zAx_9 #quantumcomputing #nobelprize #qubits

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DO YOU HAVE A LEARNING SIP? One of the core ideas in our book, HeadStart: Unlock the Keys to Career Sucess, is turning relevance into your competitive advantage. In this video, Sunder Ramachandran unpacks a foundational concept we believe every professional should adopt - create a personal learning plan and invest in a learning SIP. It's one of the simplest yet most overlooked habits for long-term growth. I've seen too many talented people get left behind simply because they stopped learning. Don't let that happen to you. Grab your copy of #HeadStart to future-proof your career. Link in the comments 👇

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CHIP KI CHARCHA With the 4th edition of SEMICON INDIA underway,I speak with Raja Manickam ,Founder of TESSOLVE & CEO of IVP SEMI on the “CUTTING EDGE” The conversation discusses critical “Talent”deficit,complexity in fabless domain with AI and ML,EDA tools,licensing aspects with viability of open source & AI driven tools. The conversation includes the primacy of funding,incentivisation of the fabless ecosystem,manufacturing and foundry bottlenecks for startups and the ongoing complexity of supply chains & geopolitical risks. UNMISSABLE for all technology aficionados and semiconductor design professionals Streaming now https://lnkd.in/g3VCWNTB India Semiconductor Mission Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology S Krishnan Amitesh Kumar Sinha Nishit Gupta Devendranath A M Semiconductor Fabless Accelerator Lab (SFAL) K Sridhar Sunil G Acharya Chetna Mohan ESCAPE VELOCITY MEDIAWORKS PVT LTD

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Thrilled to announce our latest partnership with SP Jain School of Global Management to launch the Senior Leadership Program in General Management. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, leadership isn’t just about experience; it’s about staying ahead of change. As organizations navigate AI-led transformation, there is an urgent need for leaders who can think strategically, act with agility, and lead with data. This program is designed for mid-to-senior professionals preparing for enterprise-wide roles. With a focus on AI-driven decision-making, customer-centric growth, and strategic finance, it blends academic depth with practical, hands-on learning, delivered by world-class faculty. At Simplilearn, we are committed to enabling professionals not just to adapt but to lead through change. This collaboration with SP Jain Global is another step in that direction.

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Watch my NewsX Take on the Future of the H-1B Visa Program and Indian Skilled Workforce #AIBusinessSkills Business AI NYC The H-1B visa program remains a powerful gateway for highly skilled Indian professionals to access opportunities in the United States, addressing critical shortages in technology, healthcare, and innovation sectors. Despite recent policy changes, including the $100,000 application fee, these reforms are designed to enhance the program’s focus on top-tier talent and fair wages, ultimately raising the bar for global competitiveness. This creates an exciting opportunity for Indian workers to sharpen their skills, specialize in cutting-edge fields, and demonstrate their global leadership in emerging technologies like AI, biotechnology, and space exploration. Far from being a setback, the evolving H-1B landscape can inspire Indian professionals to diversify their career paths—not only by seeking roles in the U.S. but also by leveraging global markets and contributing to India’s own booming tech industry. The challenge to meet higher standards will drive innovation, creativity, and long-term professional growth, positioning Indian talent as truly world-class. Moreover, as AI transforms the future of work, the demand for specialized human expertise will grow, highlighting the unique value Indian professionals bring to the international workforce. The H-1B visa program continues to be a vital bridge connecting global talent with America’s innovation ecosystem. For Indian skilled workers, this is a call to rise stronger, innovate smarter, and embrace a dynamic, borderless world of opportunity—paving the way for sustained success and global impact in the years to come. INDVest Forum, NYC Balamurugan Balakreshnan Nayan Paul Michael Walton Jeff DeGraff Rajeev Chandrasekhar Gopal Krishna Agarwal Anand Shah Karl Mehta Ankush Sabharwal Vibhu Kapoor Gagan Nandi Sriram Viswanathan MR Rangaswami Mukesh Aghi Dhruva Jaishankar Michael Kugelman Cdr Navneet Kaushik Cdr Kartik Gopal Sid Jain Durga Das Somsubhra GanChoudhuri Vikram Bhardwaj Karl Mehta Anand Shah Santhana Krishnan N V Chandrika Tandon Paul Storm Vijay Shekhar Sharma Ravi Ladva Revathi Advaithi Adrian Hall John Spencer

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The outcome era might be the wave that propels software adoption in India For years, software vendors have struggled to crack the Indian enterprise market. Despite being a global IT services powerhouse, the country has historically shown reluctance toward subscription-based software. The common refrain is Indian buyers don’t pay for subscription software. They are seen as value-driven, focused on cost minimization than on increasing productivity or reducing headcount. Seat-based or feature-based pricing models rarely resonated. Instead, enterprises gravitated toward custom IT solutions built to their specifications, with one-time payments and long-lasting utility. This reluctance isn’t without context. Indian companies began their software journey with rigid and inflexible ERP systems. These platforms were expensive to implement and offered little flexibility. Beyond the software cost, implementation cost 2-3 times the license value. In the process they developed expectations for high-touch, personalized support. The emergence of AI-powered software presents a fundamentally different value proposition. This new class of AI-native software products is built not around access or licenses, but around outcomes and tasks. The model aligns remarkably well with the buyer psychology and feels intuitive. It’s akin to hiring an extra set of hands to get the job done. These outcome-based models also address the fundamental objection that "software isn't doing the heavy lifting." India has a history of bypassing technological stages. We skipped personal computers in a large part and went straight to mobile. We bypassed credit card and went straight to UPI. A similar pattern may emerge in enterprise software, where companies bypass the traditional SaaS era and move to outcome-focused AI tools. Of course, this transition is not without challenges. Outcome-based pricing requires robust tracking, attribution, and trust in AI capabilities. Many buyers still prefer a known vendor with predictable behavior, even if the value delivery is ambiguous. Procurement and compliance teams are often structured to approve capex-heavy software buys rather than dynamic opex-based models. India may never fully embrace SaaS in the same way Western markets have. But it may not need to. The rise of companies with AI capabilities and outcome-based pricing models creates a unique opportunity to overcome India's traditional resistance to software adoption. By shifting from "paying for software" to "paying for results," AI companies can address the fundamental objections that have limited SaaS growth in the Indian market. The next wave of adoption may not be about getting Indians to buy software, but about building software that Indians want to buy.

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Forget the blueprint. This 19-year-old dropped out of Stanford and built a ₹60,000 CR empire. This is the story of audacious vision and relentless execution. Meet Aadit Palicha. When he dared to leave Stanford's computer science program at 19, many called him crazy. But what he envisioned next was even bolder: transforming Bharat's fragmented local grocery ecosystem. He started with KiranaKart in 2020, even running deliveries himself to understand the grind. He secured ₹70 lakhs from Contrary Capital, but the challenge was immense: inconsistent inventory, unpredictable service, and a glaring need for speed. Customers wanted it now, and the traditional model couldn't deliver. Aadit didn't just see a problem; he saw a dark store solution. 🛒 He realized that by strategically placing inventory hubs within a 2km radius of customers, orders could be delivered in a revolutionary 15 minutes. With a fresh ₹1.3 CR from Y Combinator, Zepto was born in 2021. 🚀 In just two months in Mumbai, starting with a dozen small dark stores, Zepto hit 1,000 orders daily with an astonishing 12-minute delivery time. His secret? Predictive algorithms ensuring each new location rapidly achieved operational breakeven. The quick commerce battle intensified with giants like Swiggy Instamart and Zomato Blinkit entering the fray. But Aadit's vision kept expanding. He launched Zepto Cafe, delivering chai, coffee, and food items in 10 minutes – a bold experiment that exploded with an 800% revenue increase! 📈 By May 2022, Zepto raised ₹1530 CR, nearing unicorn status with a ₹5350 CR valuation and clocking 300,000 orders daily. It wasn't just growing; it was soaring, with a 300% yearly increase and ₹3040 CR in sales. Then came the seismic news: Zepto secured another ₹1650 CR, led by Stepstone Group, catapulting its valuation to an incredible ₹11,600 CR. Zepto officially became India's first quick commerce unicorn of 2023! 🦄 Today, Zepto processes over 17 lakh orders daily across 80 cities with more than 1,000 dark stores. With nearly 20% of its orders from smaller towns, this company, born from a college dropout's unwavering belief, is now valued at over ₹60,000 CR. 💰 Who would have imagined that a 19-year-old's audacious dream would build one of India's largest companies, challenging industry titans and fundamentally changing how Bharat shops? This isn't just a business success story; it's a testament to the power of vision, resilience, and daring to redefine what's possible. What impossible problem are YOU ready to solve? 🙏 #Zepto #AaditPalicha #StartupStory #IndianUnicorn #QuickCommerce #Entrepreneurship #Motivation #Innovation #TechIndia #NeverGiveUp #InspiringLeaders #StanfordDropout #startup #startupindia

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AIM collaborated with Replit to test a simple idea. How far can AI-assisted building go inside an ordinary workday. During a Monday morning auto ride through Bangalore traffic, our journalist Supreeth R Koundinya built a real internal app using only a phone. No laptop. No studio. Patchy 5G. Replit doing the heavy lifting. The objective was practical. Build an editorial article progress-tracking app that visualises output, tracks milestones, and fits directly into a newsroom workflow. Design, logic, testing, and iteration happened live during the commute. The app was then integrated with Google Chat so editors receive updates the moment an article is completed. It is a first-hand experiment in how tools like Replit compress the distance between idea and execution. Watch the full video on AIM Network: https://lnkd.in/gBA2yMdg

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