The second day of the 17th TechSparks 2026 conference in Bangalore was dedicated to discussing policy and product issues. Participants examined topics such as governance, the future of the city's infrastructure, startups focused on the global market, and India's deep technology capabilities.
The main event of the day brought together founders, investors, policymakers, and technologists to explore how India can develop for itself and for the world. During this event, a fireside chat took place featuring Krishna Bayre Gowda, Minister for Greater Bangalore Development of the Karnataka Government, and Shraddha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory and The Bharat Project.
Drawing on his experience in the state's Land Revenue Department, Gowda stated that applying technology in public administration can reduce corruption levels and decrease the trust gap between citizens and authorities. He emphasized: 'The more we implement technology in governance, the better our service delivery to people will be, and the lower the levels of corruption will be.'
Nevertheless, the minister warned that technology alone is insufficient to solve systemic problems without changing citizen behavior. He noted that out of approximately 3.5 to 5 million properties in Bangalore, only 2.3 million have registered khatas, and only 1.8 million pay property taxes.
The minister also presented an ambitious plan for the city's growth. The state plans to expand Bangalore's metro network from the current 96 km to 170 km over the next 18 months, aiming for a length of 400 km by 2037, when the city turns 500 years old. A plan is already being developed for an area of 2000 sq km around Bangalore, which significantly exceeds the 750 sq km covered by the Greater Bangalore Corporation. Gowda added: 'I hope that in the next six months we can demonstrate tangible results in making Bangalore a relatively cleaner city.'
Turning to global aspirations, Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director of Stripe India, noted that artificial intelligence is accelerating and lowering the cost of creating companies aimed at the global market from India, giving rise to what he termed a 'minimum viable company.' In his view, Indian founders can now go global from day one. He cited the example of Emergent, which achieved $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in eight months, and Stripe data showing that 76% of customers prefer to pay in their own currency. Maheshwari also confirmed Stripe's agreement to acquire OpenRouter, a service that directs AI queries to the most suitable model, which is a bet on helping companies control rapidly growing AI costs.
He commented: 'In some modern companies, the amount of money people spend on tokens exceeds the amount they spend on salaries.'
Deep technologies took center stage on a panel featuring Vishesh Rajaram from Speciale Invest, Mayuresh Raut from Seafund, Anirudh Singh from Avatar Venture Partners, and Abhishek Srivastava from Kae Capital. Investors observed that deep tech is fostering new types of founders, supported by India's talent and the geopolitical demand for self-sufficiency in critical technologies. Raut suggested there is an eight-to-ten-year window of opportunity, while Rajaram pointed out that it is 'nerve and patience' that distinguishes founders capable of withstanding trials.
Day three of TechSparks 2026 will continue exploring how India can create, own, and scale technologies of the new technological order. The agenda includes discussions on rethinking engineering education with Professor Ashok Jundhunal, building global companies from day one with Naren Sham from Omio, AI sovereignty and the next billion users, climate innovations in energy, water supply, and clean air, as well as India's $100 billion AI potential, after which the summit will conclude with a fireside chat with Zakir Khan.