Blitz India Business
NEW DELHI: India’s next economic challenge is not simply to grow faster. It is to build companies capable of carrying that growth into the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for 50 Indian companies in the Fortune Global 500, a top-five global bank and globally leading pharmaceutical firms is therefore more than a corporate wish list. It is a test of whether India can convert its domestic market, entrepreneurial energy and manufacturing into global competitiveness.
India is now among the world’s largest economies, yet only nine Indian companies featured in the 2025 Fortune Global 500. Reliance Industries, the highest-ranked Indian company, stood at No. 88. The contrast shows the ground still to be covered.
The answer does not lie in encouraging companies to become bigger through mergers, acquisitions or protected domestic markets alone. Global champions are built on productivity, innovation, technology, capital, talent and trust. They must consistently deliver products and services that customers abroad choose because they are competitive, not because they are Indian.
The next phase of Atmanirbharta should have one clear test: whether the world increasingly wants to buy what India makes, not whether India can make more for itself
This is where the idea of Atmanirbharta needs to be understood carefully. Self-reliance should mean the capacity to compete, innovate and export, not an excuse for shielding inefficient businesses from competition. A globally ambitious India must be simultaneously more open and more competitive.
The Government has an important role in that environment. Predictable regulation, efficient logistics, reliable power, deep capital markets, skilled manpower and faster dispute resolution can lower the cost of doing business. Trade agreements can open markets, but companies must possess the capabilities to exploit them. Public policy can create the runway; corporate India has to take off.
The biggest opportunity may lie beyond the handful of familiar conglomerates. India needs hundreds of ambitious mid-sized companies to become exporters and global specialists. MSMEs must be integrated into sophisticated supply chains, encouraged to invest in technology and given easier access to finance and international markets.
There is also a qualitative challenge. Global leadership requires Indian companies to build brands, intellectual property and credibility. Pharmaceuticals must move beyond generics; technology firms must create products rather than merely provide services; manufacturers must move from assembly to design and engineering. Professional-services firms, too, must develop the scale and reputation to compete internationally.
India’s economic rise will ultimately be judged not only by how much it produces, but by what it creates that the world wants. The ambition to build global corporate champions is worthwhile precisely because it forces India to confront the harder questions of productivity, innovation and quality.
The next phase of Atmanirbharta should therefore have one clear test: not whether India can make more for itself, but whether the world increasingly wants to buy what India makes.