The opening day of Goafest 2026 saw a wide-ranging conversation on India’s evolving growth story, featuring Padma Shri Prasoon Joshi, Nikhil Sharma and Rajiv Kumar in discussion with NDTV Managing Editor Padmaja Joshi. The session examined whether India’s growing global visibility is being matched by a long-term strategic vision.
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman of Omnicom Advertising Group India and Prasar Bharati, reflected on how India has historically positioned itself culturally. “We have sold the exotic part of India,” he said, “which is chaotic and, in a sense, cerebral. The cows, the thick moustaches, the crowded roads — we have been selling it with great style, great pride. As an art form, we have been selling that.”
He suggested that India is now witnessing a shift in mindset, particularly through its entertainment choices. “There was a time when escape cinema used to be the biggest seller,” he said. “Today, people are looking for real stories, biopics, films grounded in truth. What it tells you is that there is now a confidence in us to face these things.”
For Nikhil Sharma, Managing Director of Perfetti Van Melle India, the conversation around Brand India also has a strong market dimension. “Progress is in the right direction,” he said, pointing to increasing consumer confidence in Indian-made products. “There are lots of people paying top dollar for Indian.” At the same time, he noted that scaling this sentiment across mass-market categories remains a challenge. “We are a mass company, at the bottom of the pyramid, so to speak—for us, that challenge is even greater.”
Rajiv Kumar, Former NITI Aayog Vice Chairman and Chairman of Paheli India Foundation, focused on structural and institutional gaps. He stressed the need for stronger collaboration between industry and research ecosystems. “In other countries, the two are thinking and working together to generate new ideas,” he said. “Here, the distance between the lab and the land is only growing.”
Kumar also highlighted the need to revisit India’s own knowledge systems, like Ayurveda, traditional pedagogical models, and indigenous product categories and connect them meaningfully to emerging sectors and innovation-led industries.
The session repeatedly returned to the idea of collective responsibility and long-term thinking. Drawing from a Solomon Islands metaphor, Joshi said, “India has seen a lot, suffered a lot. If we are at an inflexion point, this is not the time to curse the tree so much that it falls. This is the time to water it—together. Private, corporate, media, all of us.”
Calling for fresh approaches to growth and collaboration, he added, “What got us here will not get us any further. We will have to reinvent the way we look at everything.”
The discussion concluded on the idea that India’s growing confidence across entertainment, fashion and consumer culture must now extend into policy, R&D and institutional thinking, shaping a more self-assured and future-ready growth narrative.
