NVIDIA recently became the first publicly listed company to cross a $5 trillion market capitalisation. India, however, is yet to see a homegrown company touch the trillion-dollar mark. Reliance Industries Limited currently holds the highest valuation.
India’s own NVIDIA moment will arrive via industrial AI and robotics, according to Amey Mashelkar, head of JioGenNext. Fusion of data, automation, and real-time intelligence will drive major breakthroughs, he told AIM.
However, that process will take its time. “NVIDIA wasn’t built in a moment,” he said, adding that the company spent decades pushing through ups and downs.
Mashelkar believes India must take a long-term view. “It’s a multi-decade marathon. We have to keep building, keep pushing—and one day we’ll look back and say this was the moment everything changed,” he said, adding that India is firmly “on the right path.”
Building on that optimism, Reliance JioGenNext has evolved from a startup accelerator to being a national deep tech engine aiding early founders across AI, retail, industrial systems, and infrastructure turn ideas into real, scalable solutions.
Mashelkar said that JioGenNext has moved beyond being a regular accelerator. It has evolved into a market-access engine, one where startups earn what Mashelkar calls “the one credential money can’t buy.”
“If your technology works at Reliance scale, it works anywhere in the world.”
The flagship program is the Market Access Program (MAP), which annually onboards startups, offering guided access to Reliance and Jio ecosystem resources, mentors, investors, and opportunities to develop proofs of concept (PoCs). This year’s MAP 2025 cohort features 21 deep tech startups building new tools such as robot-training world models, smart grid security systems, blockchain-based finance platforms, and drone-powered digital twins for infrastructure.
Among startups backed by JioGenNext, Asteria Aerospace is a notable example, actively pursuing international expansion, focusing on scaling drone technology and data analytics solutions across key global industries. In early 2025, Asteria Aerospace signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Drone Destination to expand its drone-based services into international markets.
What is so special about Reliance?
Mashelkar said that while most accelerator programs groom founders. JioGenNext validates technology inside real production environments.
“Earlier, founders needed mentorship on how to build or scale. Today, there’s enough advice in the ecosystem. What startups lack is enterprise-scale validation—and Reliance has a massive appetite for integrating new technology.”
Mashelkar explained that JioGenNext’s POC runs as a structured four-phase program over roughly 90 days, though timelines can vary depending on complexity. Once a solution proves itself and enters the commercial phase, “sky’s the limit,” he said.
On what it takes for a startup to actually scale inside Reliance, the first non-negotiable is building trust, Mashelkar said with clarity. A founder must convince the stakeholders about their value proposition and establish a strong working relationship internally, something that requires time, follow-ups, and consistent engagement, he added.
For the POC itself, the success criteria are even more specific. Mashelkar said the outcome must be measurable and must show clear improvement over the baseline, ideally exponential impact rather than incremental gains. Integration readiness is another must-have, especially given Reliance’s many legacy systems.
Bridging Innovation and Industrial Scale
Speaking about India’s ₹1 lakh crore RDI mission, Mashelkar said the initiative sends a clear signal that the country wants to shift from importing innovation to owning it across AI, semiconductors, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.
He explained that JioGenNext sits at the intersection of research, startups, and large-scale deployment, operating as a bridge between ideas in the lab and technologies that work in the real world.
“When a technology is in the lab, it is only a promise, but when it is deployed at scale, it becomes proof.”
JioGenNext works to fill this “missing middle” between research and commercial rollout by de-risking innovation, speeding up the lab-to-market cycle, and strengthening business confidence for scale.
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