Moneycontrol successfully hosted the third edition of the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave in September 2026, in Bengaluru, bringing together some of India’s most influential founders, investors, policymakers, and technology leaders for a landmark day of conversations on the future of India’s startup ecosystem. Anchored on the theme ‘The Big Reset’, the conclave examined India’s startup ecosystem at a defining inflection point, as businesses navigate an AI-led transformation, evolving capital markets, and increasing scrutiny around sustainable growth and valuations.
The conclave opened with a welcome address by Nalin Mehta, Managing Editor, Moneycontrol & Chief AI Officer – Editorial Operations, Network18, who set the tone for the day by examining India’s startup ecosystem at its new inflection point. This was followed by an opening panel discussion featuring Pratyush Kumar, Co-Founder, Sarvam, and Mukund Jha, Founder, Emergent, who explored how AI is fundamentally reshaping the economics of entrepreneurship and what it means for the next generation of Indian startups. A rich programme of fireside chats, panels, and keynotes then followed, spanning the evolving relationship between startups and profitability, the role of domestic capital in India’s next growth phase, and the emergence of deep tech as a defining frontier for Indian innovation.
The event also featured a high-powered session with Karnataka’s top policymakers, underscoring Bengaluru’s continued emergence as India’s startup capital and the state government’s commitment to building a world-class ecosystem for founders and investors.
The conclave brought together an exceptional lineup of speakers, including Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka; Tejasvi Surya, MP, Bengaluru South; Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda, MLA Hosakote, Chairman, Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation; V Vaidyanathan, CEO & MD, IDFC First Bank; Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO, PhonePe; Lalit Keshre, Co-Founder & CEO, Groww; Aravind Sanka, Co-Founder & CEO, Rapido; Ritesh Agarwal, Founder, Prism (OYO); Varun Dua, Founder & CEO, Acko; Swapnil Jain, Co-Founder, Ather Energy; Sankaran Naren, CIO, ICICI Prudential AMC; Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel; Rahul Taneja, Partner, Lightspeed; Mridul Arora, Partner, Elevation Capital; Naga Bharath Daka, Co-Founder, Skyroot Aerospace; Kshitij Khandelwal, Co-Founder, Pixxel; Professor Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, The ePlane Company; Sandeep Jethwani, Co-Founder & CEO, Dezerv; Kunal Kalawatia, Chief Product Officer, NPCI; and Vishal Goenka, Co-Founder, IndiaBonds, amongst others.
Speaking at the conclave, Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, Chief Secretary to Government of Karnataka, said, “AI is certainly not going to replace human beings in any sector, whether government or private. It is only going to improve the quality and productivity, and that is precisely what we are looking at. Karnataka has been number one in school children contributing to innovative ideas — as many as 40,000 innovative ideas come from children from classes 8, 9, and 10. We are creating the ecosystem young and early. If we have to ensure that AI is inclusive and equitable, we have to bring its benefits to the rural parts of the country. Our impetus is on using AI in agriculture, and we are proactively working with investors, startups, farmers, and farmer producer organisations to track produce right from the land to the customer.”
Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda, MLA, Hosakote, and Chairman, Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation, said, “Technology is becoming ‘undemocratic’ as data centres and computing infrastructure increasingly become the preserve of large corporations. Karnataka wants to take AI to the grassroots through an affordable computing ecosystem.”
Adding to this, Tejasvi Surya, MP, Bengaluru South, said, “Young people are increasingly using social media to shape public discourse, bringing together issues that were previously compartmentalised. This is changing how politicians communicate with people, whether through reels or other digital formats, and is bringing a new dimension to political conversations.”
Sharing his perspective, V Vaidyanathan, CEO & MD, IDFC First Bank, said, “When digitisation came, it dramatically changed a lot of things in banking. AI is going to give an even bigger leap to that. We are combining three things — India’s demographics and growth, the Indian digital ecosystem, and AI; I am really excited about how far you can take banking and financial services to the lower end of the pyramid in a meaningful way. AI is like a nuclear button; you could use it for generating electricity, or you could use it for making bombs. The moral compass is super important when using AI, and what we keep asking ourselves is: what does it do for the customer?”
Adding to this, Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO, PhonePe, said, “Ten years ago, anybody who says they had any inkling that we will be the largest payments and the largest real-time payments network in the world is lying. We had no idea it would run this fast. AI valuations may be overstated, but AI is not overstated. Just the same way you can argue about dot-com — it busted, but then look at where the internet is now. It’s in our bloodstream. My hope is that over the next 10 years we 100x the reach of financial services to the Indian population. I think India can move way faster. I want to see those animal instincts really unleashed.”
The Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 was presented by PhonePe, with IDFC First Bank as the Banking Partner, and White Gold, Spinny, and Reliance Industries Limited as Associate Partners. The conclave reaffirmed Moneycontrol’s commitment to building a platform where India’s most important conversations about entrepreneurship, innovation, and value creation happen in the open.