Let markets filter deeptech champions: Investors tell govt at Semicon India

India should stop trying to “pick winners” in deeptech and instead choose a handful of national priorities—then measure outcomes and reward results, believe investors.

The comments came at Semicon India 2025, where experts and major investors shared their inputs on accelerating the country’s advanced-manufacturing push. They argued that the government’s proposed $12 billion Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund will deliver more if it backs goals, not specific technologies.

Sriram Viswanathan, Founding Managing Partner at Celesta Capital, said the state’s role is to set direction and design incentives, not dictate technical choices. “The government is not a picker of winners and losers… let the industry do it,” he said, adding that “what you measure improves” and urging officials to track the right metrics and tie support to them.

Viswanathan warned against “peanut-butter” policymaking that spreads capital thinly across dozens of missions. The fix, he said, is ruthless focus: “Pick five” areas and “put your muscle behind it,” because leadership in 50 fields is impossible, he noted.

Premji Invest’s TK Kurien pointed to China’s model: Allow “extreme competition at the bottom,” then back the few companies that emerge as world-class—and help them lock in supply-chain depth. The lesson for India, he said, is to let markets filter contenders and only then apply state heft.

To make the Rs 1-lakh-crore plan bite, the panel urged clear targets and fast execution, coupled with collaboration between investors, corporates, and the state. Viswanathan said the India Deep Tech Investment Alliance (IDTA) aims to channel feedback to the government so that incentives remove bottlenecks and deploy capital with speed.

Celesta and seven other VC/PE firms recently formed IDTA. Beyond committing $1 billion+ over the next decade, the alliance explicitly says it will provide members “a unified channel for engagement with government entities overseeing the RDI Scheme,” align with official goals/guidelines, and coordinate co-investments and sector roundtables.