Chairman, Bharat Forge
Baba Kalyani Praises PM Modi | 'Re-Industrialised India Like No One Else' | Bharat Forge MD Hails PM
#Exclusive | "It's been one of the greatest events that India has witnessed" says Bharat Forge MD Baba Kalyani as PM Modi becomes longest-serving Indian PM
"PM Modi is one person who has done more than anybody else in re-industrialising India. Our industrial economy was almost dead," he adds
#pmmodi #NarendraModi #IndianPM #LongestServingPM #india
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About Baba Kalyani
Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director of Bharat Forge, said in June 2026 that the company is working to enter the semiconductor equipment supply chain, targeting a business area he described as being in the billions of dollars. He stated that the company is collaborating with three of the five major firms in that supply chain. Kalyani also projected 25% growth in the company's automotive and industrial segment and 50% growth in its defense business for fiscal year 2027. He noted that the company is using artificial intelligence and digital technologies to reduce product development time in defense from two-to-three years to less than one year. Kalyani praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's policies, stating that Modi had "re-industrialised India like no one else" and that his government had transformed the manufacturing landscape by opening the defense sector to private industry. He called for further improvements in ease of doing business and for policies that encourage domestic intellectual property and scale, particularly in electric vehicles. Kalyani also announced that Bharat Forge is setting up an energetics plant in Andhra Pradesh to produce explosives and propellants for shells, rockets, and space applications, and that the company is no longer pursuing the acquisition of Premier Explosives.
Transcript (18 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
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Baba Kalyani0:00
Baba Kalyani, Namaskar. Can you hear me, sir?
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Interviewer0:03
Yes, Namaskar. I can hear you.
Thank you, sir. We're going live with you. Let me just ask you the question again. In the last 12 years, what do you think has been the Prime Minister and his government's biggest achievement or contribution? Because you've worked very closely with him and you've known him for many years.
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Baba Kalyani0:20
Well, first of all, I would like to convey my very heartfelt congratulations to the honorable Prime Minister for completing 12 years continuously in office as the Prime Minister of our nation. I think it's been one of the greatest events that India has ever noticed. I have been with him on many occasions. Right after he got elected, we had the workshop of Make in India in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi in December of 2014. Then I went with him to Japan during September 2015, then to Russia, to Germany, to the UK, to Denmark, and everywhere I've noticed one thing: that his vision and his discussions or his communications with those countries, with the leaders of those countries, with the business people both from India and those countries, was always: how do you put India first? How do you put the nation first? How do you look at bringing more investments, more technology, creating more jobs? I think he is one person who has done more than anybody else in reindustrializing India. Our industrial economy was almost dead. We were running at 14-15% of GDP. And I think the steps that he has taken in the next few years, we should see a big renaissance taking place in the industrial arena.
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Interviewer1:58
You started on a path few would actually want to tread at a time when it was not actually encouraged. Do you think the defense sector should have been thrown open to the private sector much before?
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Baba Kalyani2:14
It should have been, but it was never done. There was never any trust with the private sector, and that was the next, I would say, hallmark of Prime Minister Modi's policies: the whole process of making India Atmanirbhar by bringing the private sector in the defense in a big way. I mean, you can look at it now; he's even talking about getting the next-generation fighter jets made by the private sector. I mean, that is a big moment for India. It doesn't matter who makes it, but that step itself is a very, very big step, and I have to congratulate the Prime Minister. I think he has changed the emotional quotient of 1.4 billion Indians by the policies that he has put in. Everybody now thinks that things can be done. Everybody is energized. That's why you have so many startups, you have so many people who are becoming, let's say, unicorns. I mean, it's a great opportunity for India, and India has now got a can-do spirit, and it's all thanks to the honorable Prime Minister that we feel that way.
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Interviewer3:25
Well, sir, we also feel that Bharat is forging ahead and Bharat Forge has a huge role to play in it. But let me ask you: what is it that Bharat needs to focus on to continue this march, to continue on this path?
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Baba Kalyani3:42
Well, I think the focus of Bharat has to be how to convert Bharat into a products nation. We can't just be a service nation. We have to start making products, and we have to start making products that we innovate ourselves. We create the intellectual property ourselves. I mean, if you look at our company, everything that we do in defense is Indian intellectual property, either our own or working with organizations like DRDO. There's no imported intellectual property in our business, and that's the direction that India has to take. If we create Indian products that are globally acceptable, you know, in the next 10 years, and as Prime Minister Modi says, you know, 2047, we can become, or at least aspire to become, a developed nation.
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Interviewer4:40
Sir, conflicts around the world have now shown us that Atmanirbhar becomes much more important than at any other time. Do you feel it's a need of the hour, or is it an imposition that the Prime Minister is putting on the country, or like you say, it's a mandate within Bharat, so it should be a mandate for Bharat?
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Baba Kalyani5:00
No, I think it's extremely important that India becomes Atmanirbhar. When you have conflicts going on all over the world, you can already see the impacts of the conflicts. Anybody can stop anything that other countries need. So depending on anybody, he may be a friend today, but he's not necessarily going to be your friend five years from now. So you better create the technology yourself. And you know, most importantly, I think we have the capability, we have the human resources. I saw a video yesterday which said the top six innovations that made the world move, including the first one was fiber optics. That was done by a young Sikh in the 50s, and nobody, you know, took him seriously. He put the theory that the light can bend, and that's how the fiber optics and the whole internet was created. So, you know, let's believe in Indians. I mean, we can create a lot of things.
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Interviewer6:04
But for that, research and development needs a big push, ease of doing business, big bang reforms. Do you think this is the right time?
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Baba Kalyani6:13
Yes, yes. You know, India first, Atmanirbhar Bharat, and research and development. Now, fortunately, the Prime Minister has also put a policy for research with the RDI fund. The one lakh crore fund available is available to the private sector, and it's a process that we have to follow. And I think a lot of things are happening. You will see in the next two, three months, so many new ideas will come up from the private sector that will benefit not only the companies that are coming up with the ideas but benefit society at large in terms of creating talent, in terms of creating technologies, in terms of, you know, distributing these technologies to people. I think a lot of ideas are today in the pot.
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Interviewer7:01
Sir, one advice or suggestion you would like to make to the Prime Minister in terms of policy, in terms of reform, which needs to be done like yesterday?
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Baba Kalyani7:14
I think he is working on this quite well. I think we need to do something to create a little more ease of doing business. That is part of his agenda for a long time. A lot of things have been done. I think there is still an unfinished agenda. It needs to be finished, and that is one part. Second part is we need to create a policy that encourages domestic IP, domestic intellectual property, domestic talent. This is extremely important. And we need to create, in many areas, like he has done in renewable energy, we need to create scale. Scale is the most important thing for India. They have done it in many areas. They need to do it in many more areas. The automotive industry needs scale. The electric vehicle industry needs scale. You know, scale is extremely important. I mean, you can take an example from China how they have created scale.
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Interviewer8:16
Indeed. Bang on, sir. Scale is important because scale is also going to then create jobs. It's going to power the economy domestically also, plus allow us to improve our exports at all levels. You're right, scale is important. But one quality as a leader that you would like this generation of people to imbibe from the Prime Minister?
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Baba Kalyani8:38
I think if the young generation, the generation that calls itself the Z generation, learns from the Prime Minister how to work as hard as he does, how to treat India as a goal to convert it into a modern nation, and do their own work with a focused agenda on this, I think it'll be a great thing for India.
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Interviewer9:08
Well said, sir. And I think that energy comes through to you also on the screen even as I speak with you early morning. So I think there is a lot that this generation needs to learn from leaders like you and also Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially in terms of working hard and continuing to keep the energies focused on achieving the goal, the ambition that's been set. Baba Kalyani, thank you. Pleasure speaking with you, sir. Thank you for your time.
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Baba Kalyani9:32
Thank you very much. Thank you. Namaste, sir.