NDTV World Summit 2025: India overtaking UK in startups reflects PM Modi’s vision, says Rishi Sunak

New Delhi: Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak captivated attendees at the NDTV World Summit 2025, held at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, with a stirring address that wove personal reflection, geopolitical insight, and a clarion call for embracing uncertainty.

Speaking under the summit’s theme, “Edge of the Unknown: Risk, Resolve, Renewal,” Sunak’s session, titled “Navigating the Unknown: Policy, Power, Perspective,” offered a roadmap for global collaboration in an era of seismic shifts.

His remarks, delivered with characteristic eloquence, underscored India’s meteoric rise and the urgent need for innovation-driven partnerships, particularly between the UK and India.

Sunak set the tone early, exuding warmth in a pre-recorded video message: “Hi India, this is Rishi Sunak. I am thrilled to be at NDTV’s World Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in Delhi. I’m looking forward to discussing the future of global growth with India’s rising stars. And of course, looking forward to seeing my good friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, and meeting the young leaders who are shaping the future.”

His words, steeped in his Indian heritage, struck a chord as he arrived in the capital, where he met PM Modi to discuss deepening ties in education, innovation, and women’s empowerment.

The meeting, held at PM Modi’s residence, highlighted the enduring friendship between the two nations, a theme Sunak carried into his speech.

Addressing a packed audience, Sunak confronted the summit’s central motif, risk as a frontier, resolve as deliberate action, and renewal as bold reinvention.

He began by reflecting on his tenure as Prime Minister, a period defined by economic turbulence and post-COVID recovery.

“I wanted to resolve the economic issue, that’s what I was there for,” he said, noting how he steered UK inflation back to a stable 2 per cent.

Yet, he tempered this achievement with humility, quoting his mother-in-law, Sudha Murty: “You have to just do your best. That’s what my mother-in-law says, you have to give your best and then leave it to your God.”

The anecdote, delivered with a smile, drew laughter, grounding his high-stakes narrative in familial wisdom and reinforcing the summit’s call for human-centric leadership.

Sunak’s gaze then turned to the shifting global order, a landscape he described as irrevocably altered.

“The old global order that people of my generation grew up with is gone, and I don’t think it is coming back,” he declared, tracing the arc from post-Cold War optimism to today’s multipolar reality.

He highlighted how globalisation’s promise has frayed, with tariffs re-emerging as nations prioritise domestic resilience amid supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by pandemics and geopolitical strife.

“The focus will now be on multi-polarity and domestic capabilities,” Sunak asserted, urging countries to balance self-reliance with open collaboration.

For him, India exemplifies this balance, its rapid growth a beacon for the Global South.

Lauding India’s ascent, Sunak celebrated its surpassing of the UK in the number of unicorns – billion-dollar start-ups that symbolise entrepreneurial dynamism.

“India has just about surpassed the UK in terms of the number of Unicorns… the economy is growing very fast,” he remarked, crediting Prime Minister Modi’s vision.

He pointed to India’s strides in technology and energy, from digital infrastructure to solar power, as evidence of its resolve.

“For the first time in 100 years, cricket is going to be a sport in the Olympics in 2028. This is because of India,” he said, weaving cultural pride into economic optimism. These achievements, he argued, position India as a global pacesetter, capable of shaping a new world order through innovation and ambition.

Technology, particularly artificial intelligence, formed a cornerstone of Sunak’s address. He marvelled at its dizzying pace; “Telephone, electricity and other tech took decades, ChatGPT took just two months to reach the 100 million user mark.”

Acknowledging AI’s risks – from job disruption to ethical dilemmas – he remained steadfastly optimistic. “There are certain drawbacks to AI, [but] my bias lies towards being pro-innovation,” he said, advocating for policies that nurture creativity.

He cited the ‘FinTech Bridge’ between London and Mumbai, a legacy of his premiership, as a model for cross-border collaboration in finance, healthcare, and education. Such partnerships, he argued, turn risk into opportunity, aligning with the summit’s ethos of renewal.

Geopolitics, too, featured prominently. Sunak addressed China’s role with measured candour; “It is clear [China] does not play by the same rules that many of the rest of us were playing by. They don’t view trade purely as an economic function, and it has meant that countries have to think about security, IP theft, alongside trading relationships.”

He championed the India-UK free trade agreement as a counterweight, a deal to boost trade, protect intellectual property, and foster economic security.

“We must build coalitions of the willing,” he urged, positioning the Indo-Pacific as a crucible for democratic cooperation on trade and maritime freedom.

Sunak’s speech was peppered with personal touches, endearing him to the audience. When asked who offers better advice – his mother-in-law, Sudha Murty, or father-in-law, Narayana Murthy – he sidestepped with diplomacy, praising Murthy’s ethos of selfless service.

IANS