Prem Manukonda

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

The spirit of Kashmir is not just found in its mountains or its valleys.

It lives in its tehzeeb; its grace, its humanity, its hospitality, and its openness to dialogue.

My sincere thanks to Chief Minister @OmarAbdullah for embodying those values.

He gave the time to listen, and engage so openly on ideas to build ground level entrepreneurship and scale for the women and young people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Looking forward with optimism.

To everyone, come and build with the most resilient and passionate people of Kashmir.
You’ll be very, very inspired. ❤️💗

#Kashmirstories

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha @OmarAbdullah @YourStoryCo @BharatProjectCo They've been calling J&K paradise on earth for four hundred years. Might be time to also call it a place people build things. Ground-level entrepreneurship for women and young people is where the multiplier is highest, and conversations like this are how it starts.

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha The most underrated point in this piece: 31 of 52 SBS-3 satellites going to private companies. The government trusting startups with national security hardware is the real inflection.

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

India has cracked rocket science.
Now comes the harder part: Rocket Economics.

The race is no longer about who can build the best rocket.

It’s about who can build a business that launches again. And again.

The real question: Can programmes like SBS-3 create repeat customers, and finally give India a sustainable commercial launch market?

Because rockets don’t build industries.

Customers do.

Let’s understand the business model behind the rocket launches.

Read my detailed story with @premmanukonda and @adithcharlie to understand the economics of space tech.

Thanks @visheshrajaram and @srinathr155 for the insights.

https://t.co/iiKrmOjVZI

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@Cligent_Aero @SharmaShradha https://t.co/l9JY4aBbCa

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

An Indian startup building a hybrid-electric STOL aircraft that took off from just 22 metres of dirt track,no runway needed.

Congratulations to Harsh, Vivek & the entire @Cligent_Aero team!

Proud that we covered their journey under Bharat ke Innovators, with @SharmaShradha

[Bharat Tech & Infra @BharatTechIND]

🚨 India's Cligent Aerospace Successfully Tests Hybrid-Electric STOL Prototype 18 Times, Targets 1.5-Tonne Payload and 1,000 km Range.

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

My favourite detail from researching this piece: Micron is the company whose designs powered Samsung's first memory chip in 1983. Today, Micron's Sanand plant is the first operational facility of India's chip mission. History doesn't repeat, but in semiconductors it rhymes

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

We were making chips in Punjab in 1984.

TSMC didn't exist yet.

India started at the same line as Taiwan in 1976.

What we lost wasn't capability. It was continuity.

A fire in Mohali in 1989 cost us 37 years.

But 2026 is where that interruption ends.

• Micron is shipping from Sanand.

• Kaynes built a plant in 14 months.

• 12 projects worth ₹1.64 lakh crore approved.

• Semicon 2.0: ₹1.27 lakh crore more.

Taiwan and Korea won because they survived the bad years.

Now India has the machinery to do the same.

Point to note - in 2026, India’s chip mission is rapidly moving from files to physical infrastructure.

Read my detailed story to understand what’s happening in India’s semiconductor story with @PremManukonda: https://t.co/1IpRkjdpat

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

We were making chips in Punjab in 1984.

TSMC didn't exist yet.

India started at the same line as Taiwan in 1976.

What we lost wasn't capability. It was continuity.

A fire in Mohali in 1989 cost us 37 years.

But 2026 is where that interruption ends.

• Micron is shipping from Sanand.

• Kaynes built a plant in 14 months.

• 12 projects worth ₹1.64 lakh crore approved.

• Semicon 2.0: ₹1.27 lakh crore more.

Taiwan and Korea won because they survived the bad years.

Now India has the machinery to do the same.

Point to note - in 2026, India’s chip mission is rapidly moving from files to physical infrastructure.

Read my detailed story to understand what’s happening in India’s semiconductor story with @PremManukonda: https://t.co/1IpRkjdpat

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

Half of what we teach will be obsolete in a few years. The only durable skill is learning how to learn,and learning to build.

From the man who built IIT Madras Research Park & mentored hundreds of deep-tech startups.

The need of the hour isn't more syllabus. It's a new pedagogy

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

Education in our country today.

What do we need to do?

Padma Shri Professor (Dr.) Ashok Jhunjhunwala says 👇 at the launch of his memoir “Roots and Wings”

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha @SkyrootA @bharathdaka @PawanKChandana Some stories remind you why we do what we do. This is one of them. what a journey this has been to witness.

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

Tomorrow morning, a rocket built by an Indian startup will attempt to reach orbit.

At 11:30 AM,

Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 lifts off from Sriharikota, India's first private orbital launch attempt.

We've been following @SkyrootA since their earliest days.

Back in 2019, when they were barely a year old, we featured them in our Tech30 list of India's most promising startups.

Two ex-ISRO scientists with a dream that seemed impossible.

No rocket. No launch. Just belief.

Since then, we've watched them test their first engines.

We've watched Vikram-S make history in 2022 as India's first private rocket to fly.

We've watched them become India's first space unicorn.

And through it all, we've watched them stay humble, hungry, and relentlessly focused on the mission.

That's why tomorrow feels personal. When you spot a dream this early and follow it this closely, their milestones start to feel like your own.

Tomorrow, they carry the dreams of a billion Indians with them.

All the very best, Team Skyroot.

India is rooting for you. ❤️

#Skyroot #Vikram1 #IndiaInSpace #SpaceTech #IndianStartups #MakeInIndia #Sriharikota #StartupIndia #Tech30

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha @nagendra_qpi @qpiai From importing tech to building quantum computers indigenously, this is the India story we've been waiting for. This is what Viksit Bharat actually looks like. Kudos to the QpiAI team.

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

Every Indian state is chasing the same headline -

A big factory
A marquee MOU
A stage announcement

Andhra Pradesh is playing a different game.

Instead of only attracting companies, it’s trying to build founders, treating entrepreneurship as public infrastructure, just like roads or power.

Economist Mariana Mazzucato wrote about the “Entrepreneurial State.” Andhra Pradesh, under @naralokesh, is taking that idea one step further.

Here’s what’s different:

-AI Hub in Visakhapatnam

-Quantum Valley in Amaravati with IBM & TCS building India’s largest quantum computer

-Ratan Tata Innovation Hub

-Target of 20,000 startups

-Co-working hubs across all 26 districts

Not one startup city.

An entire startup state.

And the focus isn’t on signing MOUs

As @naralokesh has repeatedly said, success is measured only when investments materialise and jobs are actually created.

In the age of AI, factories create jobs.

Founders create industries.

Industries create generations of jobs.

The next competition between Indian states won’t be about who attracts the biggest company.

It will be about who creates the most entrepreneurs.

Andhra Pradesh may have moved first.

Our latest @YourStoryCo on the roadmap beneath the headlines.

“The next battle between Indian states won’t be for factories. It’ll be for founders.”

https://t.co/y2YABVB3KW

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@naralokesh This is the part most people miss. "A government that's almost invisible" is exactly what founders want and almost never get. Speed and policy stability decide whether someone builds for ten years or gives up in two. Good to see it said this plainly.

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

This, from the Chairman of CII-AP, captures it: entrepreneurs are the foundation, not just investment. Andhra is building exactly that. Kudos @naralokesh, and to @shradha_sharma for telling the story so well.

[Murali Gannamani @GannamaniMurali]

Excellent perspective, Shraddha. Building entrepreneurs, not just attracting investments, is the foundation of sustainable economic growth. Kudos to @naralokesh for his energy and execution, and to Hon’ble CM Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu for providing the visionary leadership that is positioning Andhra Pradesh as India’s next innovation and entrepreneurship powerhouse

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@Anup1060726 @SharmaShradha Valid. The established states got there by concentrating in one city. Andhra is attempting the harder, unproven version, a startup ecosystem spread across a whole state. Not more mature, just a genuinely different bet.

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha What makes this urgent:close to 1 crore Indians enter the workforce every year,and AI is quietly breaking the old link between company growth and hiring. Gvt can't employ their way out of that. Founders are the only engine that scales. That's the real reason this model matters.

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

This is the Andhra story almost no one is telling. Not the factories it's landing, but the founders it's trying to build, entrepreneurship treated as public infrastructure.

@naralokesh @ncbn @PawanKalyan @iTDP_Official @JaiTDP @JanaSenaParty @JSPShatagniTeam

[Shradha Sharma @SharmaShradha]

Every Indian state is chasing the same headline -

A big factory
A marquee MOU
A stage announcement

Andhra Pradesh is playing a different game.

Instead of only attracting companies, it’s trying to build founders, treating entrepreneurship as public infrastructure, just like roads or power.

Economist Mariana Mazzucato wrote about the “Entrepreneurial State.” Andhra Pradesh, under @naralokesh, is taking that idea one step further.

Here’s what’s different:

-AI Hub in Visakhapatnam

-Quantum Valley in Amaravati with IBM & TCS building India’s largest quantum computer

-Ratan Tata Innovation Hub

-Target of 20,000 startups

-Co-working hubs across all 26 districts

Not one startup city.

An entire startup state.

And the focus isn’t on signing MOUs

As @naralokesh has repeatedly said, success is measured only when investments materialise and jobs are actually created.

In the age of AI, factories create jobs.

Founders create industries.

Industries create generations of jobs.

The next competition between Indian states won’t be about who attracts the biggest company.

It will be about who creates the most entrepreneurs.

Andhra Pradesh may have moved first.

Our latest @YourStoryCo on the roadmap beneath the headlines.

“The next battle between Indian states won’t be for factories. It’ll be for founders.”

https://t.co/y2YABVB3KW

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha The most striking part of this conversation,a minister who has publicly published metro completion deadlines and says plainly,"otherwise my credibility is at stake" That is accountability we rarely see, bnglr is lucky to have KBG on the job, and this interview shows exactly why.

[Prem Manukonda @PremManukonda]

@SharmaShradha Fully agree. Delhi’s air can’t be our new normal. The mix is brutal from stubble burning, construction/road dust, vehicle emissions, to waste burning. Count me in for the brainstorm, form filled.