The Founder's Playbook For India's AI

From Royal Enfield to AI: India's Next Global Champion Should Be Built, Not Debated

By Govindraj Ethiraj

It has been dubbed the most dramatic power shift in motorcycling history.

The company executing this maneuver is one that many Americans, until recently, had never heard of.

The changing of the guard did not happen overnight, but the frontal assault officially began 11 years ago.

In 2015, Chennai-headquartered Royal Enfield, a subsidiary of the Eicher Motors group, boldly opened its North American headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, right in iconic motorcycle brand and company Harley Davidson’s backyard and the epicenter of American motorcycling.

The stock market now reflects the sheer scale of this disruption.

Harley-Davidson has been losing sales in recent years and its market capitalisation currently hovers around a diminished $2.7 billion.

Eicher Motors commands a valuation north of $21 billion.

The production disparity is equally stark. Last year, Royal Enfield sold over 1.2 million motorcycles globally. Harley-Davidson struggled to move much over 100,000.

Today, Royal Enfield exports more motorcycles than Harley-Davidson produces in total.

If you want to understand why, look no further than the consumers.

Harley Loses The Plot

A quick survey of motorcycling enthusiasts and reviewers across platforms like YouTube reveals titles that range from “How a $5,000 Indian bike is stealing Harley’s future customers” to “How one small Indian brand just put Harley out of business.”

The prevailing tone among the authors of these reviews who are mostly American and British by the way is a mix of dismay and anger directed at Harley-Davidson for losing the plot, trying to sell the same overpriced, over-complicated heavyweights to an aging demographic.

Royal Enfield, meanwhile, has been universally praised for returning to the fundamentals of the open road.

They offer highly affordable, first-class motorcycles with a deliberately analog feel.

Free from over-the-top electronics, these air-cooled machines appeal to both young and old riders who want a bike they can actually tune up in their garage.

As one former Harley loyalist noted, "Royal Enfield models have replaced Harley-Davidson to me. They are affordable, classic looking... and you can customise them."

For the price of a single Harley, a consumer can essentially buy two Royal Enfields, others quipped.

Harley's Deeper Problem

During his first term, US President Donald Trump notably complained about India’s tariff barriers on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

He wasn't wrong to point out trade imbalances, but he missed the deeper structural irony: Harley wasn’t just struggling to export to India; it was taking direct punches from an Indian brand right on its home turf.

And Enfield is winning on more than just price.

With a 123-year legacy as the oldest continuously produced motorcycle brand in the world, Enfield has successfully replicated the very thing that made Harley a titan: a fiercely loyal, well-nurtured global community with strong cultural roots.

Even back in India, where Harley and British rival Triumph attempt to compete in the 400cc segment via joint ventures with Hero and Bajaj, the results tell a familiar story.

While Bajaj-Triumph has found some success, the Hero-Harley partnership is making limited headway.

India's Next Frontier

There is a profound lesson here for the hand-wringers currently lamenting India’s supposed lag in the next great technological frontier: artificial intelligence.

Every day, the chattering classes engage in national breast-beating over whether India should develop its own large language models (LLMs) to compete with the likes of ChatGPT or Claude, or simply adopt them to drive enterprise productivity.

The debate is largely a distraction. If a visionary wants to build an Indian LLM, they will secure the capital, assemble the talent, and build it, they won't wait for validation from social media commentators or a government white paper.

When Eicher Motors bought a stake in a struggling Royal Enfield in 1990 and eventually acquired it, there were most likely no debates among armchair opinionators about whether India "should" export motorcycles.

Eicher simply scaled up a product that already existed, built the aura around it and then marched into Harley’s hometown, quite literally.

The Founder's Playbook

If an engineering product seems too far, consider the pioneers of India's IT revolution. When NR Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, and their co-founders launched Infosys in 1981, they did not wait for a national consensus on the potential of software services.

As they have noted on several occasions, the software industry flourished in India precisely because the government had no idea what it was.

Bereft of state meddling and central planning, the industry was spared the very "help" that would have throttled it.

Innovation is almost always best left to entrepreneurs armed with hunger, desire, and passion.

The Royal Enfield story is a testament to the power of free enterprise and a solid homegrown success that should cut through the current air of economic despondency.

It is entirely incidental that Eicher produces motorcycles.

The broader takeaway is this: global champions can emerge from anywhere in India, in almost any industry.

Perhaps even in large language models. But they will be built in the garages and boardrooms of driven founders, not in the comment sections of their doubters.

When it all clicks.

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Rs 2.20 lakh crore

That’s how much the combined market capitalisation of four of India’s top-10 firms surged last week, marking a reversal after recent weeks of sharp erosion.

Top gainers:

• Reliance Industries: m-cap jumped by Rs 1.39 lakh crore

• Bharti Airtel: m-cap rose by Rs 39,136 crore

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS): m-cap gained Rs 28,888 crore

• Bajaj Finance: m-cap increased by Rs 12,453 crore

Background: Analysts say the surge came in a volatile, range-bound market. The week began on a positive note, supported by easing geopolitical tensions and steady progress in Q4 earnings.

However, rising crude oil prices, weak cues from Asian markets and continued foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows capped gains.

Within the top-10 firms, the recovery remained uneven. While Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and TCS drove gains, financial heavyweights such as HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank declined, offsetting part of the upside and signalling a selective, rather than broad-based, rebound.

IPL's $1.65 Billion Deal

Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and vaccine tycoon Adar Poonawalla will acquire Indian ‌Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals in a deal valued at $1.65 billion. Mittal's family will hold approximately 75% equity, Poonawalla around 18%, with existing investors including Manoj Badale retaining nearly 7%.

Overview: The acquisition includes Rajasthan Royals' sister franchises, Paarl Royals in South Africa's SA20 and Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

Fast Facts: The transaction follows Aditya Birla Group, along with other investors’ $1.8 billion acquisition of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in March, underscoring the soaring commercial value of IPL franchises.

Fragile Ceasefire, Rising Costs

West Asia’s conflict has entered its third month, and a fragile ceasefire along the Israel-Lebanon border from mid-April is under strain.

Israel has stepped up strikes in southern Lebanon, while Iran has proposed a 14-point deal to the US, calling for an end to the naval blockade, sanctions relief, and a broader ceasefire across fronts.

Markets are reacting. Brent crude remains elevated around $110 a barrel, reflecting persistent supply risks.

Impact: India’s leather and footwear industry has sought urgent relief, including duty exemptions on inputs such as synthetic leather, adhesives, plastics, and components. Industry bodies say petroleum-linked disruptions have sharply raised costs, with some inputs rising by as much as 60%, squeezing margins and weakening exports.

Data from the Airports Authority of India shows international passenger traffic fell 18.5% in March as the crisis escalated.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs says it has evacuated 2,432 Indian nationals from Iran so far, while flight operations across West Asia and the Gulf remain limited but gradually improving.

ADB's $70 Billion Vision

The Asian Development Bank will back $70 billion in new energy and digital infrastructure initiatives across Asia and the Pacific by 2035. The commitment, announced at the bank's 59th annual meeting, targets cross-border connectivity while expanding access to electricity and broadband across the region.

Overview: ADB President Masato Kanda said energy and digital access will define the region's future, with linked power grids and digital networks designed to lower costs and broaden economic opportunity.

Setup: The bank unveiled two flagship programmes: the Pan-Asia Power Grid Initiative, with proposed investment of $50 billion, and the Asia-Pacific Digital Highway, earmarked at $20 billion, together forming the backbone of the ambitious regional push.

Sales Up, Profits Threatened

India's passenger vehicle market opened FY2026-27 on a high, with an estimated 4.5 lakh units sold in April, up 27% year-on-year. Maruti Suzuki posted its monthly domestic sales at 1.87 lakh units, even as Tata Motors, Hyundai, Kia, and Toyota all recorded strong double-digit growth.

Pivot: However, the industry faces a serious financial threat. A clause in the Environment Protection (End-of-Life Vehicles) Rules 2025 has triggered an accounting standard requiring automakers to make provisions for environmental compensation on vehicles sold over the past 15 to 20 years, PTI reported.

Critical Moment: Industry body estimates a one-time hit of approximately Rs 25,000 crore on the sector's bottom line for FY26, potentially squeezing profits and constraining investment in new technologies across the industry.