RESILIENT INNOVATION OF INDIAN STARTUPS ECOSYSTEM
Nine years ago, JIIF planted a seed — today, it has grown into a powerful movement that has backed visionary founders, fueled transformative ideas, and proven the global potential of innovation from Bharat. On 26th June 2026, the 9th JIIF Foundation Day celebrated at the iconic NSE in Mumbai, under the theme: *Compounding Bharat — Innovation × Entrepreneurship*.
More than an anniversary, it’s a testament to what happens when changemakers choose to build instead of wait. This gathering unites founders, investors, students, corporates, family offices, policymakers, and ecosystem leaders for one of the year’s most anticipated celebrations of Indian innovation — a space for everyone who believes India’s best chapter is still unwritten.
At the 9th JIIF Foundation Day held on June 26, 2026, at NSE Mumbai, JIIF Chairman Jeenendra Bhandari highlighted the organization’s milestone achievements and its vision for scaling India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Key Takeaways from Jeenendra Bhandari’s Address
Milestone Progress: Over the past nine years, JIIF has successfully channeled more than ₹60 crore into startup investments.
Incubation and Support: The foundation has run four dedicated incubation cohorts, forged strong ecosystem partnerships, and launched a new 5,000 sq. ft. incubation center in Mumbai to mentor early-stage founders.
Focus on “Compounding Bharat”: Aligning with the event’s core theme—Innovation × Entrepreneurship—Bhandari emphasized empowering disruptive business models and tech-forward startups to drive India’s next wave of economic growth.
The lamp lighting at the 9th JIIF Foundation Day was a symbolic moment — illuminating nine years of innovation, resilience, and homegrown impact. A celebration of Bharat’s rising entrepreneurial spirit, it marks not just progress, but the power of purpose-driven vision.
A gathering of top investment advisors and wealth managers at JIIF Foundation Day highlighted the growing synergy between innovation and capital in India’s evolving financial landscape. It’s a powerful convergence of vision and value — where entrepreneurial energy meets strategic investment.
Shailesh Haran served as the Director in Charge for the 9th JIIF Foundation Day held on June 26, 2026, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai, championed the central theme of “Compounding Bharat: Innovation × Entrepreneurship”.
Key Takeaways & Core Pillars
Compounding Bharat Strategy: Shailesh Haran and the JIIF leadership focused heavily on scaling India’s economic growth by intentionally multiplying domestic innovation with aggressive entrepreneurial support.
Live Institutional Pitching: The foundation hosted the signature JITO Shark Angels live pitching sessions. This initiative serves as a direct bridge connecting disruptive, early-stage startups directly to active capital networks and corporate investors.
Government & Ecosystem Integration: The event emphasized building robust public-private bridges, highlighted by key partnerships and collaborative speaking sessions with ecosystem drivers like the Maharashtra State Innovation Society (MSInS).
Capital Co-generation: Discussions underlined the importance of moving beyond baseline funding. The mandate for 2026 centers on establishing cohesive environments where family offices, deep-tech innovators, and cross-industry mentors systematically co-invest to build scalable global enterprises.
Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), delivered a compelling keynote address at the 9th JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF) Foundation Day, addressing MSMEs and startups under the theme “Compounding Bharat: Innovation × Entrepreneurship”.
Here are the core takeaways from his speech regarding public listings, wealth creation, and building a sustainable business.
The Power of Public Markets & Wealth CreationValuation Multiplier: Public markets reward profitable businesses with massive valuation leaps that private balance sheets simply cannot match.
The “₹2 Crore Profit” Example: If an unlisted business generates a net profit of ₹2 crore, the owner essentially holds a asset worth that scale. However, by listing on the market, that same ₹2 crore profit can command a market capitalisation of ₹40 to ₹50 crore, instantly unlocking immense wealth and leverage.
Listing as “Your Own Currency”: Going public grants a company its own financial currency, giving promoters the leverage to bring in strategic partners, raise capital efficiently, and fund expansion.
Fundamentals Over Share Prices
Focus on Business Growth: Entrepreneurs must focus entirely on building sustainable businesses, improving profitability, and strengthening core fundamentals rather than obsessing over daily share prices.
True Value Creation: A company’s stock price will naturally reflect its performance. You cannot artificially sustain or increase market value without actual, operational business growth.
Free Advisory via Markets: Once listed, companies receive institutional coverage. Analysts and financial media track key performance data (like labor-to-revenue ratios and competitive positioning) for free, offering insights that companies previously paid high consulting fees to acquire.
Promoter Control and SME Segment Realities
No Fear of Hostile Takeovers: Promoters retain strict control post-listing. Under standard rules, entrepreneurs typically dilute only 25% to the public market while holding a 75% stake, meaning ownership cannot change hands against their wishes.
Liquidity and Market Makers: Generating immediate trading volume is not the promoter’s job. The SME segment functions on a market-maker mechanism that mandates two-way trading quotes for three years to assist liquidity.
Dream Big: Startups and MSMEs generating ₹10 crore to ₹20 crore in revenue should use the equity markets to plan and scale for ₹200 crore and beyond.
The panel discussion “Multi-Asset Mindset Bharat: Where Should India’s Wealth Be Invested?”—held at the 9th JIIF (JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation) Foundation Day at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai—centered on tactical asset allocation strategies to capture India’s transformative economic growth. Moderated by Anoop Tulseyan, the speakers collectively underscored the structural shift away from traditional, low-yielding fixed deposits in favour of a dynamic multi-asset approach spanning public equities, real estate, start-ups, and commodities.
Here is the detailed, speaker-wise narration of the arguments, strategic viewpoints, and core philosophies shared during the “Multi-Asset Mindset Bharat” panel discussion:
Dr. Amit Goenka – CEO, Nisus Finance (NiFCO)
Asset Class Focus: Institutional Real Estate, Structured Debt, and Real Assets.Core Philosophy: Real estate must be viewed as an evolving, institutionalized wealth engine rather than a static piece of land.
Key Arguments:
Cyclical Resilience: Dr. Amit Goenka argued that real estate remains one of India’s most resilient pillars of wealth creation, safely absorbing economic volatility across market cycles.
The Shift to Modern Infratech: He urged investors to look beyond traditional residential units. The massive growth potential now lies in commercial spaces, warehousing, and data centres.
Alternative Investments: He highlighted the massive influx of structured private credit and yield-based real estate instruments that offer predictable, institutional-grade risk-adjusted returns.
Rajat Mehta – President, Mehta Equities
Asset Class Focus: Retail Broking, Equity Markets, Real Estate and Demographic Capital Inflows.
Core Philosophy: India is undergoing a permanent behavioral shift in how it stores wealth, transitioning from idle assets to active financial instruments.
Key Arguments:The Demise of Financial Inertia: Rajat Mehta highlighted how younger Indian investors are structurally abandoning the rigid investment habits of previous generations (like physical gold hoarding and idle bank deposits).
Democratization of Capital: He spoke to the massive, sustained domestic liquidity flowing into public equities.
A Systematic Approach: He advocated for capitalizing on the broader macroeconomic tailwinds of India’s growth through systematic, disciplined equity and market participation.
Mihir Vora – Chief Investment Officer, Trust Asset Management
Asset Class Focus: Public Equities, Mutual Funds, and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).
Core Philosophy: Investors must look past the “label” of an investment and understand its underlying structure, risk-profile, and liquidity.
Key Arguments:The Deceptive Nature of AIFs: Mihir Vora pointed out a major market misconception where investors view Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) as a single asset class.
Granular Due Diligence: He stressed that a Venture Capital fund, a Structured Debt fund, and a Private Equity fund all sit under the AIF umbrella, but differ drastically in fee structure, risk, and cash drawdowns.
Long-Term Value Compounding: For the broader public, he championed the discipline of institutional mutual funds—specifically Multi-Asset Allocation funds—to manage market volatility seamlessly.
Rajesh Jain – Managing Director, Zarco Ventures
Asset Class Focus: Cross-Border Diversification, Commodities (Gold/Silver), and Multi-Geography Allocation.
Core Philosophy: The strongest portfolios are built on cross-asset conviction and mathematical diversification, not by chasing last year’s top performer.
Key Arguments:Multi-Asset, Multi-Geography: Rajesh Jain shared his direct thesis from the past 6 years, explaining that relying purely on local equity is a concentration risk.
The Return of Hard Assets: He noted that while the post-COVID years were entirely dominated by public equity growth, the last two years have proved the vital hedging power of gold, silver, and other commodities.
The “All-of-the-Above” Approach: He firmly stated that rather than trying to time the market between India, the US, or gold, a resilient wealth strategy simply allocates to all of them to confidently survive complete market cycles.
At the 9th JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation (JIIF) Foundation Day held on June 26, 2026, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai, JITO Apex President Shri Vijay Bhandari emphasized that JIIF’s core mission is to transform job seekers into job providers.
Key Takeaways & Highlights
Empowering the Community: Highlighted the deep-rooted entrepreneurial spirit within the Jain community and how JIIF serves as a powerful bridge connecting early-stage founders with top-tier national and global investors.
Theme Focus (“Compounding Bharat – Innovation × Entrepreneurship”): Stressed the compounding potential of combining grassroots execution with modern tech innovation and scale.
Ecosystem Synergy: Celebrated 9 years of backing, scaling, and mentoring high-potential early-stage startups to drive economic empowerment and sustainable nation-building.
Dr. Shrikant Patil, CEO of the Maharashtra State Innovation Society (MSInS), spoke at the 9th JIIF Foundation Day (Compounding Bharat: Innovation × Entrepreneurship) held on June 26, 2026, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai.
Key Takeaways from His Address
Grassroots Innovation: Emphasized the state’s focus on reaching unreached districts and villages to uncover local ideas and build micro-incubator networks.
Regional Hubs & Future Skills: Highlighted the creation of regional innovation hubs (such as in Pune) focusing on advanced tech like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel, and rare earth minerals.
The “Mumbai 3.0” Vision: Outlined plans for a massive 300-acre state-of-the-art innovation city near Mumbai’s new airport to support scaling startups across diverse sectors.
Dedicated Funding Support: Discussed robust financial backing through state initiatives, including the CM Maha fund (initial allocation of ₹500 crore) and thematic funds designed to take ventures from ideation to acceleration.
Inclusivity in Entrepreneurship: Stressed the importance of targeted programs for women-led and tribal enterprises to ensure balanced regional and social growth.
Shri Lalit Kumar Dangi (Secretary General, JITO Apex) highlighted core themes around “Compounding Bharat – Innovation × Entrepreneurship” at the 9th JIIF Foundation Day held on June 26, 2026, at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Mumbai.
Key Observations & Highlights
Compounding Growth: Emphasized how small, consistent innovations combined with entrepreneurial execution compound into massive economic momentum for India (Bharat).
Bridging Founders and Capital: Stressed the critical need to connect early-stage startups directly with angel investors, family offices, and venture networks (such as JITO Shark Angels).
Institutional Scale: Highlighting the venue (NSE) itself, observations centered on taking community-backed enterprises to mainstream capital markets, transitioning from startup incubation to eventual IPOs.
Ecosystem Synergy: Focused on active collaboration between policymakers, state innovation boards (like MSInS), and seasoned business leaders to mentor the next generation of changemakers.
The highly anticipated panel discussion titled “How AI Rewrites the Rules of Indian Entrepreneurship” took center stage.The session brought together visionary tech founders and venture capitalists to explore how Artificial Intelligence is transforming India’s business landscape from a game of mere “hype” into a core pillar of sustainable economic growth.
The conversation featured a powerful mix of builders, investors, and operators:
Deepak Jain (Moderator) – Co-Founder & CEO, FlexiLoans
Sanket Shah – Co-Founder & CEO, InVideo
Anand Jain – Co-Founder, CleverTap
Tarun Davda – Managing Director, Z47 (formerly Matrix Partners India)
Key Takeaways from the Discussion
1. Shift from “Why AI?” to “How Fast?”The Paradigm Shift: Panelists noted that just 30 years ago, Indian businesses were skeptical about needing computers, the internet, or email.
Current Reality: Today, AI has completely bypassed the skepticism phase. Entrepreneurs are no longer questioning the purpose of AI; instead, they are solely focused on how quickly they can adopt it to stay competitive.
2. Building “AI-First” vs. Layering AI
Rewriting Startup Rules: The tech landscape has evolved past simply adding AI features to existing software. The true winners in the current economy are building AI-first business models from the ground up.
Global Scaling: Founders like Sanket Shah highlighted that AI gives Indian startups an unprecedented edge, allowing small engineering teams to build sophisticated products that can scale globally on day one.
3. Moving from “Hype” to “Value & Profitability”
The Investor Lens: With veteran investor Tarun Davda on the panel, a major focus was placed on shifting away from chasing flashy AI trends.
Core Metrics: Investors are looking beyond “AI buzzwords” to see if a startup uses technology to drive real metrics: lowering customer acquisition costs, improving margins, and accelerating pathways to profitability.
Earning the Right to Raise: The discussion emphasized that AI should be used to build a robust foundation before a company even considers raising pre-seed or seed capital.
4. Hyper-Personalization at Massive Scale
Customer Engagement: Anand Jain from CleverTap touched upon how AI rewrites customer journeys. By leveraging real-time data analytics, Indian consumer brands can now talk to millions of users with the intimacy of a local shopkeeper, customizing every alert, offer, and interaction automatically.\
5. Driving “Compounding Bharat”
Micro-Efficiency: The panel aligned perfectly with the event’s broader theme of Compounding Bharat. By automating routine operational tasks—ranging from fraud detection to backend customer support—AI acts as an efficiency engine that helps Indian small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) compound their growth structurally rather than accidentally.
Priya Singh, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Chalo Mobility, was featured in a special highlight session titled “The Untold Journey: Straight From the Heart.”This filter-free, unscripted segment focused on the raw realities of building an impactful, mission-driven business in India.
Priya Singh, Co-Founder of Chalo Mobility, shared important lessons at the JIIF JITO event about building a business that helps society while making a profit. She explained that true success comes from giving millions of bus riders dignity, safety, and easy travel, rather than just making money. By using modern tech to fix the daily commute, Chalo makes it easier for women to travel safely and join the workforce. Their smart systems also use live data to match bus schedules with crowded peak hours, which keeps cars off the road and lowers city pollution.
A major part of her talk focused on how Chalo completely changed public travel by digitising buses in major cities like Mumbai and Indore. By swapping old paper tickets for quick UPI payments and the smart Chalo Card, the company has saved over 15 crore paper tickets and cut down daily travel stress. Doing this meant working closely with government transit offices, which takes a lot of patience and hard work. By connecting Chalo’s tech with national digital programs like Gati Shakti and Jan Dhan, they have successfully brought useful, modern tools directly to everyday public riders.
Amit Goyal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of FatakPay, shared key observations regarding startup growth, scaling, and the evolving fintech ecosystem in Bharat under the core theme “Compounding Bharat – Innovation × Entrepreneurship.”
Key Observations & Insights
Team Scaling & Evolution: He highlighted the journey of building a financial super app from a lean initial core of just four co-founders to a large organization scaling past 800 team members.
Ecosystem Synergy: Emphasized that compounding national growth requires tight collaboration between early-stage founders, institutional investors, and high-security traditional platforms like the NSE.
Fintech Realities: Highlighted how consumer trust and deep tech infrastructure are central to driving financial inclusion and large-scale user adoption (surpassing 20 million users) across tier-2 and tier-3 markets in India.
Abhinav Jain (often cited with co-founder Apurv Abhay Modi) presented Almonds Ai at the JITO Incubation & Innovation Foundation (JIIF) flagship event. Their presentation caught the attention of major business leaders, setting off a massive growth phase that eventually led to a major ₹16 crore seed funding round co-led by JIIF and the promoters of Haldiram’s.
Key Observations & Takeaways
Shifting from Broadcasting to Relationships: Almonds Ai stood out by proving that B2B rewards shouldn’t be passive. Instead of just handing out points, their platform uses two-way dynamic journeys filled with games, milestones, and personalized nudges that keep channel partners active.
Massive Scale in B2B Tech: The founders demonstrated the sheer scale of their Channelverse ecosystem, which supports over 6 million channel partners. This includes everyday retail network helpers like mechanics, drivers, painters, and dealers.
High-Impact Revenue Growth: Investors at JITO observed a highly profitable model. Almonds Ai built its way up from a tiny ₹1 lakh initial concept to a multi-crore ARR business with strong EBITDA margins, proving that enterprise SaaS can scale efficiently in India.
Green Loyalty Integration: A key differentiator showcased was their focus on sustainability. Their Green Loyalty Programs allow large corporations to reward their supply chains for making eco-friendly choices.
Global Expansion & AI Focus: The presentation laid the groundwork for their international expansion into the Middle East, North Africa (MENA), and Southeast Asia. The funding they secured is actively being used to build out advanced AI agents and Large Language Models (LLMs) to make distribution intelligence completely automated.
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