Known as a visionary in the tech world, Chambers suggested the creation of a sovereign wealth fund for investments in emerging technologies, starting with artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and semiconductors.
Chambers, also chairman emeritus of Cisco, said the perfect storm is brewing with a rapidly accelerating India-US partnership, rapid advances in AI and steady leadership that will propel India as the world’s second largest economy in three to four decades and the largest by the end of the century.
“In his first 5 years in office he (PM Modi) laid the ground for the next five. In the next five years in office he laid the ground for the next 25 years. I think this five is about laying the framework of the century. This is India’s century,” Chambers said in an interview with ET at the sidelines of the INDUS X summit that promotes joint defence innovation.
He added that the third term sends a message of predictability and safety of investments into India.
Chambers said the vision for the next century would require US and India working together and making each other stronger. “The perfect storm in a positive way is about to happen and that perfect storm will be enabled by AI, and people have just begun to scratch the surface of what it means. We’re just getting started,” he said, adding that the US partnership adds 2% to the Indian GDP while India can add 1% to the GDP of the largest economy in the world.Chambers said no matter who wins the upcoming Presidential elections, the India-US relationship will not see any dramatic change. Describing India as the best place to be invested in the entire world, Chambers said that his prediction is that by the end of the century, the Indian economy will be 90-100% larger than China and perhaps 30-40% bigger than the US.
