Devendra Singh Mahra

"The bond forged by a shared purpose is stronger than blood" - @narendramodi Hon'ble Prime Minister of India @PMOIndia

@jsensarma @abhimanyutwits May be because most writings are opinionated

@abhimanyutwits Imo Bongs are *very* opinionated, no matter which side of the opinion they take.

bengalis exists in binaries -- either kattar hindutvadis or almost islamo-gauschists, there is literally no middle ground. also, the world is not ready for bengali hindutva when it finally comes, ganga belt folks will appear minions, bengal might even beat coastal KA on this.

I can understand the anxiety and challenges of young people. Having kids is lot of extra work and effort in the new social setup. But both my wife and I agree that it is best to have kids as early as possible. If your financial capability allows, at least 2, ideally 3-4 (I wish I knew this earlier :) ). It gives the kids a good support system.

I studied the life and work of Lee Kuan Yew, the Founder-Prime Minister of Singapore intensely during my early 20s. Immense respect for him. In this video clip, he advises a young woman pursuing a PhD not to neglect marriage and kids. I recently gave very similar advice. Elon Musk would say much the same thing. We have to orient our culture, society and the economy so that smart ambitious women do want to have children (and sadly, this needs to be said today: men cannot have children). If we fail at this, humanity will lose. Now let the attacks begin! 🤓

@svembu thedrum.com/news/steve-job…

@svembu @svembu Ji, while what you are saying is correct, you also need to write on the reasons. We can write whatever, that is not going to change mind of people unless the reasons are addressed.

@svembu Glad someone prominent is saying this 🙏.

@prakdadlani @prakdadlani Ji, I would like to read if some article has been written on this. I work on both sides of this, manufacturing as well as software. IMHO, the software and office people are taking manufacturing a lot lightly :)

Facts by Radika:

@radika_agarwal Are VCs investing in such businesses? us ai in bg to do what? Any thesis or article to read?

unsexy businesses are actually much sexier with each model release so - build the supply chain - set up a manufacturing unit - sign up 1000s of vendors who don’t understand technology beyond UPI use ai in the bg- to expedite everything that you do but continue deeply engaging yourself in the real world. in 2026, that’s the moat

@zionszzn Check for cervical spondylosis

Getting older is crazy. One wrong pillow angle and your neck is disabled for the entire week. 😭

@AjeyGore I guess it is about who has used what more.

In haven’t used IDE in 3 months. Only opened to understand some code, maybe 4-5 times. Why people are using IDEs?

@hitobs Lowering cost can expand the market.

My current mental model basis what I am seeing around me and at InfoEdge in all our verticals - Naukri, 99acres, Jeevansathi and Shiksha. 1) AI is fundamentally deflationary for businesses. 2) When the cost of intelligence drops toward zero, the cost of doing many things drops with it. 3) Everyone becomes more productive but no one stays differentiated for long. 4) The natural outcome? Price compression. Margin pressure, Commoditization. 5) We’ve seen this with the internet, cloud, SaaS. AI is doing it to cognition itself. But this is only half the story. 6) AI is deflationary for existing markets and expansionary for new ones The big mistake 7) Using AI just to do the same things cheaper. That’s a race to the bottom. 8) The real question is, What becomes possible now that was previously impossible? Three ways I see AI creating real advantage 1) Solving problems that were too expensive to solve or not solvable earlier 2) Serving customers who couldn’t be served before 3) Delivering experiences and quality that wasn’t possible to deliver before In other words Don’t just lower costs. Expand the market. Because when capabilities commoditise , value shifts to, – Distribution and Customer Relationships – Brand – Trust – Proprietary data – Ecosystems The winners in the AI era won’t be the most companies which are the most efficient. They’ll be companies with the best imagination

@aparanjape @hitobs @sbikh And imagination remains the only moat?

@sbikh Agree... well put. Focus on expanding markets, new products/services/solutions... rather than just reducing costs and improving efficiency. "The winners in the AI era won’t be the most companies which are the most efficient. They’ll be companies with the best imagination."

@neeleshmisra @neeleshmisra Ji, what are the responsibilities of a creator?

I would love to know what has changed in his perspective on responsibility as a creator since then.

@prakdadlani Till it remains easier to make money in other ways, manufacturing won't be first choice for people.

@prakdadlani Mostly not going to happen. The education and training 2nd generation gets is not same as what first generation gets. Options both had are different.

India & China both have the same problem. The 2nd generation factory owners are often not as passionate. The first generation built with struggle. They took risks, worked long hours, and fought to survive. The second generation inherits comfort. The factory is already running. Money is already there. The market is already built. So, the hunger drops. A lot of them: - don’t want to run operations - were pushed into the family business - like ownership more than responsibility And slowly, strong factories are becoming average factories. Meanwhile, new founders enter the same industry with more energy, speed, and ambition. That is why many old businesses decline while newcomers rise. A business cannot survive on family name alone. Every generation must earn it again. What needs to change to solve this?

@x_rahulraj I would highly recommend everyone to start taking guest lectures regularly with some measurable goal in mind at nearby colleges to develop a better understanding of what the actual problems are.

How will such university sustain itself? Govt funded or funded by fees paid by students? A world class university is difficult when it has to make money also. These ideas are great in theory, very difficult to implement on ground with its own set of challenges. How do you make people original thinker when the major focus is getting employment. If a university's success is measured by placements and packages, and other activities to attract students, that is what they will need to optimize for

The next wave of progress will be driven by fundamentals. Basic science, mathematics, and core engineering will become critical. AI is a powerful tool, but overreliance on it will make majority of people intellectually passive over time. As deglobalisation reshapes economies, nations will be forced to return to first principles. Rebuilding manufacturing, technologies, and supply chains from the ground up. That shift will demand a strong ecosystem of capable teachers, rigorous engineers, and curious, disciplined students working closely with industry. A truly world-class university will cultivate original thinkers, people who question assumptions, focus, cut through noise, and, most importantly, operate with a clear sense of purpose.

@x_rahulraj What would a world-class university look like in AI and deglobalization era?

Wise Prime Minister and CMs would create opportunities for the best talent to stay and build world-class universities and companies, providing the facilities, security, and infrastructure they need so they don’t feel compelled to move to the United States. Instead, we remain stuck in corruption, appeasement, and sycophancy.

@simply_mixed_up ismein chhat nahi hai sir 🙂

My first new car at the age of 53...🥴 EMI for 5 years, at least the loan guys will pray for my good health 😎😎😁😜😜

@svembu @veryrv75 @svembu Ji, that is true only for companies in pure play digital space. It was much harder earlier, but it is still not as smooth it needs to be to address our nation's needs.

@veryrv75 We can start companies much more easily now. We can do it from a very low cost of living place too. If you have talent, you can make it in India today. That was much harder in the socialist raj days.

In the 1980s, most IITians would go abroad. In 1989, when I graduated from IIT Madras, I remember feeling extremely dejected about our country. Punjab, Kashmir and Assam were all burning. My heart was not in engineering. I was mostly reading books in Economics and Philosophy - we had a good library. The burning question in my mind was "Why are we so poor?" Some of my classmates and I wrote an article in the IIT campus newspaper in late 1988-early 1989 (there were two newspapers, Focus and Spectator, and I believe we published in Focus, they were reproduced using "cyclostyling" machines - please look them up!). In my vague recollection, the thrust of the article was that the IIT system was failing to serve the needs of the country and the country itself was facing a profound stagnation (I wish I could get that article now - a copy may be in some dusty basement in IIT). I want to know what I thought and said as a 21 year old in 1989 that I agree with and what I disagree with today. By 1989, I had become a committed anti-socialist, having lived through the socialist stagnation of India. By 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union was on, and China was in turmoil - the Tinananmen student protests and their forced suppression. By 1991, India needed an emergency IMF loan. The 1991 economic reforms by Shri Manmohan Singh happened due to pressure from the IMF. So you can imagine the mood in 1989. That was the India I left in 1989. I was feeling miserable to leave but hopeless to stay. In 1990, I came home for a visit and thought of dropping out of my PhD and staying home. I was home sick. I started to study Singapore and Japan during 1990-94 in my PhD years - the "Why are we so poor" question. By 1994, I decided I would be in the private sector and took up an R&D job in Qualcomm.

@svembu @BhatlaVikram @svembu Ji, what is the biggest friction point and hurdle that is stopping this from happening?

We have been poor because we waste our talent on a truly massive scale. Zoho is built by very ordinary Indians from very humble backgrounds. That kind of talent pool is there everywhere in India. We have to tap it to create tens of thousands of companies like this. At that point, we will be shockingly wealthy as a nation.