From markets to mindsets: The transformative power of disruptions

For the Anniversary Special this year, Forbes India invited industry stalwarts to weigh in on how disruptions can be opportunities for renewal and growth

  • Published:
  • 26/05/2025 01:16 PM

When the Forbes India team started discussing a theme for the Anniversary Issue, various countries had just begun registering the impact of the Trump Administration 2.0. The Pale Blue Dot—Earth, as photographed by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, and referred to by Carl Sagan—was already reeling from the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Picking ‘disruption’ and its transformative power as the theme of the issue was our idea of a tribute to this ever-evolving world.

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Titled ‘Giant Strides’, the 16th Forbes India Anniversary Special is a collection of nuanced essays that presents a thematic deep dive into the transformative disruptions and opportunities across India’s economic, social, and technological landscape. The opening column by AK Bhattacharya, author, and editorial director at Business Standard, sets the tone with an analysis of India’s historical responses to financial reforms and external shocks, and compares them to the unique challenges presented by US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented approach to global trade and relations.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the 1991 economic reforms were India’s share markets. In his column, Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), illustrates how disruption in India’s capital markets has bred transformation. Leaving the ancient paper-based trading to embrace cutting-edge technology rooted in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), the NSE has democratised wealth creation.

Also read: Will GenAI disrupt higher education?

DPI has been one of the biggest disruptions in the Indian economy: Aadhaar has enabled over 1.4 billion people to access government services and benefits; Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed 172 billion transactions in 2024. The country’s inclusive digital systems offer a blueprint to other nations. Nandan Nilekani, chairman and co-founder of Infosys, and Wamkele Mene, secretary-general of the AfCFTA Secretariat, spotlight how African nations, with fragmented identities but rising digital ambitions, can tweak the model to their benefit.

Talks of disruption are incomplete without exploring the impact of artificial intelligence (AI): Rohan Murty, founder of Workfabric AI, and Dev Khare, partner at Lightspeed India, present two different perspectives. Murty focuses on making AI a co-worker, while Khare encourages startups to look for “jugaad” tailored to India’s complex, unstructured sectors.

The Indian startup ecosystem is a fertile ground for disruption, as proven by some of the biggest names that have emerged from this sandbox. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and executive vice chairman of Info Edge and an early backer of Zomato and Policy Bazaar, proposes a revolutionary approach for founders: Shift from chasing vanity metrics to focusing on profitability, customer retention, and operational efficiency.

Also read: Are boards forward-thinking enough in this disruption era?

In an interesting composition, Nupur Pavan Bang of ICAI’s Centre of Excellence, and Kavil Ramachandran of the Indian School of Business, provide a roadmap for how the next-generation of India's storied business houses can balance tradition and transformation in a BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible) world. A professor at IISc, Deepak Saini, zooms in on the demographic transformation quietly underway in India. Olympian Abhinav Bindra critiques India’s obsession with medals over sport itself.

This is just a glimpse of some of the gems you will find in the Anniversary Issue. Stay tuned as we present 16 eminent voices across industries, including Puneet Chhatwal, Rajesh Jejurikar, Praveer Sinha, Ranjan Pai, and Sharvil Patel, each offering unique insights. Across essays, the unifying message remains: Disruption can be a lever for renewal.