Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCL Tech, said at the AI Impact Summit on Thursday that artificial intelligence is redefining not only technology but also strategy, leadership, and human decision-making.
“The competitive edge in the AI era is not computing power; it is clarity of thinking,” she said, framing the technology as a strategic force that requires both innovation and judgment.
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She compared AI to a “power hitter” in T20 cricket, illustrating how the technology changes the pace and dynamics of business, governance, and society.
Drawing on a recent T20 World Cup example, she said, “If you watched Ishan Kishan’s innings, 77 off 40 balls, you saw something that is a perfect analogy for AI in T20 cricket. When a power hitter walks in and starts clearing the boundary from ball one, the captain doesn’t take her fielders off the field. He resets the field deeper, on long, on a sweeper, on the leg side, third man back. Every ball on the field has to adapt, not because the fielders are less important, but because the nature of the game has changed.”
Similarly, AI is capable of performing tasks that previously required entire teams, reshaping the way organisations operate and redefining the competitive landscape.
“AI is the power hitter. It is clearing boundaries that used to require entire teams. But the game is not batsman versus nobody. AI is a team sport,” Malhotra said. She emphasised that humans are still central to success. “Our job is to set the field, to position our nation where the ball is going, not where it was, to invest in the skills that AI cannot replicate — the ability to read the game, to anticipate, to make the judgment call in the moment that no algorithm would risk,” she explained.
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Malhotra framed this within a broader perspective on India’s technology evolution. For decades, growth was scale-led: expanding delivery meant higher output, revenue, and global influence.
Today, she said, the era is shifting toward intelligence- and intellectual property-led growth. “When knowledge becomes programmable, industries are redefined rather than merely evolving. Business models change. Individuals are empowered more than ever,” she noted.
Looking at the national level, she outlined three strategic imperatives for India: moving from scale-led to IP-led value creation, shifting from adopting to building AI platforms, and developing democratized national AI infrastructure.
“IP compounds; it strengthens competitiveness, anchors strategic autonomy, and ensures long-term economic resilience. Ownership transforms nations. Compute must be treated as digital public infrastructure. When compute is accessible, innovation decentralises. When innovation decentralises, IP multiplies. That is how an IP nation is built — not by one champion, but by an ecosystem,” she said.
She stressed that responsible deployment is key. “The true test of AI is not how fast it scales, but whom it serves. Responsible AI is not a feature. It is a foundation. From awe to accountability — that is the journey. Speed is meaningless without control; scale is unsustainable without trust,” she said.
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