SHASHWAT GUPTA RAY
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PANJIM: AI will drive the future of Indian startups; therefore, data sovereignty is imperative to ensure legal compliance, protect intellectual property, build essential consumer trust and most importantly, it prevents reliance on foreign servers, said Prajyot Mainkar, Founder of SoFueled, an IT engineering studio based in Goa.
Widely known as the ‘Android Man of Goa’, Mainkar has recently published a book titled ‘Bootstrapped in Bharat’, a field guide for Indian founders building durable, self-funded businesses, written from more than a decade of doing exactly that himself. He was one of the industry advisors who helped shape the Goa State IT and Start-up Policy, and he continues that work today as a contributor to AI policymaking in the State.
“Data is the essential raw material of this era, and India is generating it at an unparalleled scale. For instance, the UPI system processed 23.2 billion transactions in May alone—approximately 750 million daily—totaling nearly 30 lakh crore rupees. This represents a live record of how over a billion people manage their finances and daily lives,” Mainkar said.
The concern is that the value derived from India’s digital footprint may increasingly accrue to foreign AI companies. The start-ups specialist said that the discussion surrounding data sovereignty is rooted in basic economics rather than abstract debate. While international recognition is valuable, true leverage comes from owning the data layer.
“Rather than pursuing a purely isolationist approach, a more effective strategy would be to focus on areas where we can build sustainable leverage,” he said.
Regarding the start-ups situation in Goa, the author said Goans have never lacked talent or ambition; that, in his view, was never the question.
“What a younger ecosystem is still building is density: a critical mass of founders just a few years ahead of you who’ve scaled, raised, stumbled, and rebuilt, and who can pass that on. Hubs like Bengaluru have had a longer head start, so those operators are more concentrated there for now – that’s a matter of timing, not ability. And access to someone a few steps ahead of you is worth more than any amount of capital or co-working space,” he said.
The good news is that closing this gap requires intent rather than infrastructure.
“If we can encourage 15 seasoned operators to mentor the next generation of founders, we can build a thriving ecosystem,” Mainkar mentioned.
When asked what investors ultimately look for in a start-up company, Mainkar said, “At the end of the day, investors want good returns through an exit. But the best ones don’t start there. They back the founder long before the spreadsheet looks impressive – because they think in decades, not quarters. The exit is just the headline.”
As a founder, one should build something so substantial that an exit becomes the obvious conclusion.
“When you achieve that, the question of profit answers itself,” he said.
