Rethinking Mobility for India in 2047 The shift isn't just about cleaner engines—it's about rethinking how people and goods move across a rapidly urbanizing nation.

India's mobility landscape is on the brink of a transformation. As the country moves toward a future defined by sustainability, technology, and integrated transport systems, conversations around electric vehicles, connected infrastructure, and seamless urban movement are taking center stage. The shift isn't just about cleaner engines—it's about rethinking how people and goods move across a rapidly urbanizing nation.

Sharad Mohan Mishra, president-group strategy, TVS Motor Company opened the conversation with a grounded view on the electric vehicle (EV) movement. "EV trend is... like a rain which has already happened," he said, underscoring that the shift is irreversible — though the pace of adoption will depend on user-specific benefits and regulatory momentum. But Mishra was quick to pivot beyond the EV vs. internal combustion engine debate. "Our fight is not with the ICE engine. The fight is with carbon," he emphasized, urging the audience to think beyond binaries and embrace multiple sustainable alternatives, be it electric, CNG, or hybrid.

One of the recurring themes was the idea that India's mobility problem is not just about volume — it's about complexity. Mishra articulated this sharply: "Congestion is not a volume issue alone. Congestion is a complexity issue... India is in a complexity issue." In a country where millions of people move at different times, with different price sensitivities and needs, optimization is no longer about just adding more vehicles — it's about understanding and organizing demand better.

This is where technology becomes essential. As Mishra pointed out, "The answer is technology." Not just in the EV drivetrain, but across the board — in connected infrastructure, telematics, multimodal integration, and data-driven solutions.

Amit Jain, CEO & co-founder of CarDekho echoed this view, identifying a core challenge in the lack of seamless journey experiences. "My personal view is that there is no seamless solution today... As long as somebody can solve here through technology — which is solvable, by the way — I think there will be more adopters," he said. Jain argued that predictability across fragmented transport modes is a big gap. If a traveler can't reliably know when they'll reach a metro stop and when the next last-mile ride will be available, mass mobility suffers.

Rikant Pittie, CEO & co-founder of EaseMyTrip.com built on this with a vision of mobility as a service. "You just pay a subscription model... and you're connected everywhere," he proposed. The idea isn't new, but the scale of integration Pittie pointed toward for one pass for metro, buses, taxis, is where the transformation lies. He also highlighted futuristic bets already underway, pointing to startups working on air taxis like Sarla Aviation and e-planes. "We don't have to actually do some innovations from scratch. There are countries already developing such transportation systems, we can better them."

Startups, Pittie added, shouldn't just chase big flashy problems but look at the friction points in everyday travel. He shared a spontaneous idea: what if an IoT device at community gates or hotel lobbies could summon a cab without needing to open an app or talk to a driver? It's these "surgical level" ideas, as Mishra put it, that can reshape the user experience meaningfully.

Mishra also urged entrepreneurs to rethink what counts as infrastructure. "In India, infrastructure is mostly considered road. But infrastructure is road plus parking," he stressed. Parking optimization, often overlooked, could be fertile ground for innovation using deep tech.

The discussion circled back to the importance of data — not just for operators, but for governments. Integration and optimization can't happen in silos. "Who's going to control the data?" Mishra asked. "Government needs to also come up with the idea of helping to integrate the data itself."

The future of goods mobility also came into focus. Amit Jain noted the growing relevance of drone deliveries in e-commerce and logistics, a space ripe for decongestion. "The human can't be avoided. If you have to go from point A to B, you will go. But goods can be transported through drones," he said. With Indigo already piloting drone-based human transport, even that line may blur soon.

In a moment of synthesis, Pittie captured the spirit of the discussion: "You need to think wild, you need to think out of the box." And that, perhaps, is the crux of mobility in 2047, not just moving faster or cleaner, but moving smarter and braver. Whether it's using geospatial tech to avoid pollution corridors or creating hyper-local booking tools to reduce friction, the next generation of mobility solutions will come not from replicating the West but from solving India's unique, layered transportation puzzles.

As the session ended, the message was clear: The road to 2047 won't be built by big bets alone — it'll be paved by sharp, localized, and tech-enabled thinking.

The speakers were speaking at the Startup Mahakumbh 2025, moderated by Alok Mittal, board of trustees, TiE Global.