{
  "id": 15609702,
  "title": "Data, not chips, will decide India’s AI and biotech future, say deeptech founders",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/19/data-not-chips-will-decide-indias-ai-and-biotech-future-say-deeptech",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-19T10:48:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "YourStory",
    "slug": "yourstory",
    "url": "https://yourstory.com/2026/10/india-data-infrastructure-ai-biotech-coremantle-loopworm"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "When discussing technology infrastructure, people typically refer to semiconductors, data centers, and AI models. However, the true deciding factor for how well these technologies function lies in the data behind them, and India still needs to develop this crucial component. Speaking at a panel discussion on \"The invisible infrastructure of the new tech order\" at TechSparks 2026, the panelists emphasized that India's advantage in this realm will be having trustworthy, context-rich data in areas like language AI and biotech. Arvind Pani, founder of AI data intelligence startup CoreMantle, stressed that data is an integral part of the tech stack that cannot be substituted. \"You can continue to replace compute. You can continue to replace the application, but you cannot replace the data,\" he explained. Ankit Bagaria, co-founder and CEO of insect biotechnology company Loopworm, highlighted the significant disparity in biopharma, where most work still depends on trial-and-error methods. He stated that improved data could significantly reduce the time needed to bring a product to market. Bagaria stressed that biotech deserves the same attention as AI, quantum computing, and chips, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. India currently imports approximately 73% of its key materials, including active pharmaceutical ingredients and reagents, from China. While India produces a substantial volume of vaccines, it only accounts for around 5% of the market by value. Pani pointed out that India's internet was initially designed for English speakers, which created two primary issues: citizens had to learn the technology and a new language. The panelists agreed that having a larger dataset is not always superior; instead, a higher-quality dataset created from enriched and contextual data yields superior results.",
  "summary": "Founders from CoreMantle and Loopworm say India must own context-rich data to scale AI and biotech and cut reliance on imports.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}