If Indian capital doesn’t fund Indian context, India risks importing solutions to problems it understands better than anyone else. This is the message from Archana Jahagirdar, Founder and Managing Partner at Rukam Capital, who makes a passionate case for why domestic capital must prioritise local innovation over borrowed playbooks.
“For too long, our innovation ecosystem has mirrored the West — Silicon Valley models, YC templates, global TAM slides,” says Jahagirdar. “But India plays by different rules.”
The challenges India faces are unique and rooted in its geography, demography, and economics. From 50 lakh kirana stores still operating without ERP systems, to the silent crisis of rural iron deficiency, from EV infrastructure gaps in tier-2 towns to the cash flow struggles of women-led SMBs — these are problems born from India’s context, not Silicon Valley’s.
And yet, Jahagirdar warns, too much of the investment thesis in India remains driven by pattern recognition from Palo Alto, not ground truths from Pune, Patna, or Panipat. “You can’t solve India’s problems with templates from elsewhere. You need founders who’ve lived this reality and investors who aren’t asking ‘Where’s the playbook?’ Because in India, there isn’t one.”
At the heart of this argument is a deeper philosophical shift Jahagirdar advocates: from capital that demands scalability at any cost to capital that values context, time, and texture.
Backing the Builders of Bharat
Jahagirdar highlights the sectors where India’s next wave of IP will emerge — deep-tech, health, agriculture, and infrastructure. Notably, these are sectors where solutions often don’t scale overnight. “Our most valuable brands will speak regional languages, not just English. Our most enduring businesses won’t go viral — they’ll go village to village.”
In her view, this is a call for a patient form of capital. One that understands India’s journey from fragmentation to scale doesn’t follow Western trajectories. “This won’t be built by capital that needs a 12-month payback,” she says. “It’ll be built by capital that understands the time, trust, and texture of India.”
Case for Indian LPs and VCs
Indian Limited Partners (LPs) backing Indian Venture Capitalists (VCs) who back Indian founders — this, Jahagirdar believes, is the virtuous cycle India needs. “It’s not just about rupees versus dollars. It’s about context versus template.”
When this alignment happens, the resulting innovations don’t just scale — they stick. “Because they’re born from ground-up insights, not top-down assumptions.”
Road to Viksit Bharat
Jahagirdar’s message concludes on an urgent note: if India truly seeks Viksit Bharat — a developed India — its capital must move beyond the hunt for what’s merely scalable. “We have to fund what’s true,” she says. “And truth in India takes time. It takes grit. And it takes capital that’s not just writing cheques, but backing context.”
