BT MindRush: 'India must prioritise quality education, healthcare..', says Sanjeev Krishan of PwC on road ahead

At Business Today MindRush, Sanjeev Krishan, Chairperson of PwC in India, said India must prioritise quality education and healthcare to convert its demographic dividend into productivity — and embrace “big” scale enterprises, while building long‑term capabilities rather than short‑term subsidies.

In the session, Decoding India’s Path to Prosperity, Krishan said: "We celebrate our demographics. But quality education and healthcare are two areas that can lift the demographic profile and get them more productive."    

The session opened by contrasting two stark realities: India has created a new dollar billionaire nearly every month over the last four years, yet over 800 million people still struggle to afford two proper meals a day. This contrast framed the discussion on what prosperity truly means for a country of 1.5 billion people.

Namita Thapar, Executive Director, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, broke down prosperity into three lenses—personal, corporate, and national. She said personal prosperity means peace of mind, integrity, and simplicity. Thapar added corporate prosperity is measured by shareholder value and investor satisfaction.

"National prosperity, however, remains distant due to widening wealth inequality, gaps in education, and a failing healthcare system, especially in addressing non-communicable diseases," Thapar said.

Mathew Cyriac, Executive Chairman, Florintree Advisors, shared his personal story of acquiring a near-bankrupt company with 30,000 workers—85% of them women. Under new leadership, the company doubled its workforce and became profitable.

He defined prosperity as creating inclusive, long-lasting jobs, especially at the bottom of the pyramid, highlighting the social ripple effect of such empowerment.

Thapar said" "Creating jobs is the best metric of prosperity. The best example is startups. India’s startup ecosystem has over 120 unicorns and there combined valuation is ~US$350 billion. Over $100 billion in VC funding has flowed into the ecosystem in five years. All this is rick capital Taking the example of Shark Tank, most companies in the programme are pre-revenue and we are taking bets at this companies, sector and founders. If more and more people are willing take the educated and informed bets that's a clear path to job creation."

The panel stressed upskilling in the face of automation/AI—India possesses the world’s second‑largest chip‑design talent pool but must invest deeper in R&D and technical education to sustain competitive advantage.  

The panel noted that 50% of India’s workforce is under-skilled for their current jobs. With AI and automation rising, upskilling must be prioritized.

They said India's long-term value lies in sectors like semiconductors, deep tech, and R&D, especially given its strong talent pool in chip design.