Innovation and indigenisation are no longer India’s next chapters; these have already become our intrinsic and central nature. The emergence is strategic, structured, and scalable, under the guidance and backing of the government. Ahead of the 79th Independence Day, let me reiterate and revisit the growth story of Innovation and Indigenisation in India.
Growth Drivers
In the Global Innovation Index (GII) published in 2024, India has moved from 81st position to 39th within a decade. Based on the latest GII, India ranks 1st among economies in Central and Southern Asia and 1st among all lower-middle-income economies in the world. This feat is a testament to our efforts and our futuristic resilience.
Growth Driver 1: Government Initiatives & Policy Support
Government initiatives, such as Startup India, Digital India, Atal Innovation Mission, and Make in India, were supported by the Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Growth Driver 2: Thriving Startup Ecosystem
India has rightly identified the need for a deep tech ecosystem and announced the National Quantum Mission, through which it funded quantum communication leaders like QNu Labs. NQM and other similar initiatives accelerated the startup ecosystem across industries.
Growth Driver 3: Academia-Industry Collaboration
The convergence of academia and industry is thriving, creating a possibility for a skilled and industry-ready workforce, ensuring that future resources become a bridge, not a barrier. Many IIT projects are supported, funded, developed and deployed by the industry, consumed by the government and the Indian defence sector. The culture the nation is building is conducive to innovative solutions.
The convergence of academia and industry is thriving, creating a possibility for a skilled and industry-ready workforce to ensure future resources become a bridge, not a barrier. Many IIT projects are supported, funded, developed and deployed by the industry, consumed by the government and the Indian defence sector. The culture the nation is building is conducive to innovative solutions
Export Boom & Import Decline
In 2010, India was the highest defence importer in the world, with 11% of overall global imports; however, we reduced our import dependency to just 4% last year.
Over the years, India has built a robust innovation landscape underpinned by policies, investment in research, and future-driven visionaries. As a result, during the financial year 2023-2024, being one of the largest startup hubs in the world with 100+ unicorn companies, we achieved a 67% increase in exports (compared to 2013-2014).
Through innovation, the country accounts for over 45% of all the GCCs in the world and has been recognised as one of the fastest-growing economies in 2024.
The Quantum Shift
In this transition period towards the quantum era, innovation and indigenisation should continue. Quantum space is mission-critical, and the government is on a mission.
Irrespective of industries, all security encryption is based on outdated algorithms like RSA, ECC. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST), USA, has already declared that these legacy encryption methods are vulnerable to quantum attacks, leaving all sensitive and confidential data exposed and making every human being and organisation susceptible to financial, reputational, and identity damage. Using the ‘Harvest Now, Decrypt Later (HNDL)’ tactic, the cyber adversaries are no longer waiting for the quantum computers: they have already started downloading the data and storing it with them. Once they get access to quantum computers, which are expected to come between 2026 to 2030, they will begin to decrypt and misuse the data.
Over the years, India has developed a robust innovation landscape, underpinned by policies, investment in research, and driven by visionaries. As a result, during the financial year 2023-2024, India was one of the largest startup hubs in the world, with 100+ unicorn companies, and achieved a 67% increase in exports (compared to 2013-2014)
Q-Day and India’s Preparation
This colossal quantum destruction is infamously referred to as Q-Day.
If the cyber attackers are proactive, governments and enterprises must also be proactive. That’s our preparation strategy! That’s precisely what India is doing now, by collaborating with category leaders and innovative solution providers.
How QNu Labs helps India and the World
In a hyper-connected world where every data matters, trust is paramount. QNu Labs, in association with the Indian government, develops that ‘trust’ through proactive quantum solutions globally, representing the nation.
QNu Labs is the world’s leading quantum cybersecurity company and category leader, incubated at IIT Madras Research Park, established in India but built for the world. Contrarian in approach, QNu holds a mission of securing digital infrastructure against emerging quantum threats worldwide. Backed by the National Quantum Mission and aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of Viksit Bharat in 2047, QNu’s end-to-end quantum-safe products and solutions are homegrown, compliant-ready and trusted by government bodies and critical sectors like defence, PSU, BFSI, IT, telecom, healthcare, automobile, etc.
If the cyber attackers are proactive, governments and enterprises must also be proactive. That’s our preparation strategy! That’s precisely what India is doing now, by collaborating with category leaders and innovative solution providers. QNu Labs, in association with the Indian government, has developed trust through proactive quantum solutions globally, representing the nation
For the defence sector that deals with credentials, communication, control, command and collaboration, QNu has extensively provided security and helped retain national sovereignty. Below you will find a quick snapshot of QNu’s journey towards innovation and indigenisation:
- Launched nation-first Quantum Key Distribution (tested, trusted, indigenously developed, proven) for India’s defence. This detects and prevents man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. Backed with “Type Approval” Certification from Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
- Launched India’s first indigenously developed Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) that offers true randomness with high entropy and was certified by CR RAO AIMSCS.
- Additionally, robust defence security is strengthened by Q-ORE, a quantum-safe drone communication platform applicable for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
- Received DSCI’s Most Innovative Product of the Year (2019)
- Established a Quantum Lab for the Indian Army at Mhow (2021)
- Received Raksha Anveshan Ratna Award for Tech Breakthrough by MoD (2022)
- Received National Technology Award from Department of Science & Technology, India (2022)
- Winner of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX – Open Challenge 2.0 in 2022)
- Developed Hub & Spoke QKD as a part of the NSCS grant (2023)
- Deployed Quantum Safe Wi-Fi Solution for MCEME and MCTE (2024 and 2025)
- Established a 300Km QKD network for the Indian Army at Jodhpur (2025)
- Participation in shaping India’s and state-wise national quantum security roadmap (QIB 2025)
- Received Cybersecurity Company of the year at 4th MSME Innovation Summit and Digital Innovator Award from Intellyx, a Dutch analyst firm (2025)
- Ongoing Deployment of QKD at 5 locations for the Indian Navy
- Building the world’s largest commercial QKD Network of 500 KMs
QNu ensures India remains a vanguard in deep tech through innovation and indigenisation. From ‘Digital Bharat’ to ‘Quantum Surakshit Bharat’, it is moving the nation forward and making the world a secure place. India’s future is invented, not imported. The land of innovation and indigenisation must be remembered for trust, resilience, integrity, intelligence, and digital sovereignty
For the industries around the world, QNu takes pride in offering the world’s only full-stack end-to-end quantum security platform, QShield, with three layers: Infrastructure Layer, Service Layer & Applications Layer, delivering both hardware and software quantum solutions.
QNu ensures that India is a vanguard in deep tech through innovation and indigenisation. Transitioning from ‘Digital Bharat’ to ‘Quantum Surakshit Bharat’, the nation is moving forward, making the world secure now and forever. India’s future is not imported: it is invented.
Let the land of innovation and indigenisation be remembered for trust, resilience, integrity, intelligence, and digital sovereignty.
Jai Hind!
The writer is CMO, QNu Labs. She is member of Harvard Research Advisory Council, TEDx Speaker, Board Advisor, Corporate Mentor and Guest Faculty in IIT-B, Alliance University, IIM-Calcutta Research Park, JAGSOM
