An honour to meet and engage with Shri @nitin_gadkari @OfficeOfNG, @MORTHIndia, along with six of Startup Policy Forum’s member companies from the mobility ecosystem: @ACKOIndia, @blackbuck, @cars24india, @cardekho, @ixigo, and @91Trucks.  The Hon'ble Minister was extraordinarily generous with his time, taking detailed updates and listening patiently as our members shared how India's mobility ecosystem is evolving, how technology is being deployed across the board, and how a wide range of the Ministry's initiatives have enabled the growth and innovation of mobility startups. The conversation spanned a wide canvas: strengthening the deemed ownership framework, FASTag adoption, digital freight infrastructure, barrierless tolling, improving intercity bus transport, challan-linked safety incentives and broader road safety measures. We also had the opportunity to share the progress made by Startup Policy Forum over the last one and a half years. We remain deeply committed to working closely with the government and our members to further strengthen the mobility ecosystem. As we continue to work with the Ministry on a number of important issues, engagements like these reaffirm our conviction that India's startup ecosystem and policymakers, working together, can shape the future of mobility for a billion-plus Indians. It was great to have representation from the entire spectrum of the new-age transport ecosystem and we were buzzing with ideas post the meeting on how to collaborate as an ecosystem to take urban mobility forward. @alokebajpai | @Animeshkd |@Jain79M | @YABAJI | @c2abhishek | @RuchitAgarwal1 | @Sidgairola | @vikramchopra | @duavarun | @SPF_India

A few months ago, Startup Policy Forum featured @ixigo founders @alokebajpai and @rajnishkumar on our India AI in Action series, brought to you in collaboration with @OfficialINDIAai mission. A well thought-through choice as ixigo is one of India’s most tech-forward travel startups, adopting AI differently and rapidly. Turns out, we hadn’t seen anything yet. This week, I witnessed ixigo’s launch of TARA and chatted with Aloke and Rajnish to understand why this moment matters so much to them. This wasn’t an incremental update. Not a wrapper. It was a fundamental reimagining of travel tech in an AI world, or as Rajnish puts it, “AI-native reinvention in practice.” While most companies add a layer of AI to an existing experience, ixigo has built an entire travel experience around AI. TARA converses naturally in English, Hindi, and Hinglish, handling complex trip planning and acting on your behalf, even when you’re off the app. The agentic layer takes it further: auto web check-ins, boarding passes to WhatsApp, hotels called ahead to confirm room readiness. As Rajnish showed in a genuinely impressive demo, this isn’t AI as a feature. This is AI as the product. When ixigo calls themselves AI-native (a term thrown around loosely today), they mean it functionally. Aloke put it best: they’re discovering what AI can do every day, and some of it leaves them “blown away.” Perfect moment for a mini-sequel on India AI in Action. This second chapter deserves to be seen. Watch here 👇

🎉 Celebrating 10 Successful Years of Startup India 🎉 Tomorrow, January 16, marks a decade since our Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi launched the game-changing @startupindia initiative. On the cusp of this historic milestone, Startup Policy Forum (SPF) members reflect how this movement transformed India’s startup ecosystem and gave it rocket fuel for explosive growth. From seasoned veterans to young trailblazers, founders share powerful reflections on their 10-year journey. Congratulations to @PMOIndia Shri Narendra Modi and India’s vibrant startup ecosystem on 10 years of the Startup India initiative. @PiyushGoyal @CimGOI @DPIITGoI @JitinPrasada @SPF_India @riteshagar @TheRealNamzoo @alokebajpai @vikramchopra @sinhaanurag14 @gskush79 @asxna @gajen_jangid @shashanknd @abhatnagar @_anshuman26

“Non-adoption of AI is not an option anymore. The window is closing.” Founders of @ixigo — @alokebajpai and @rajnishkumar share their AI adoption strategy on the this episode of IndiaAI in action, a collaboration between Startup Policy Forum @SPF_India and IndiaAI Mission @OfficialINDIAai , an initiative of the @GoI_MeitY Here’s a sneak peak. Full episode coming soon! 🚀🎉 @abhish18 @SecretaryMEITY