1 Nabhdrishti is pioneering indigenous fuel-flexible gas turbines in India at an intersection of deep tech innovation and sustainability. Could you share the genesis of this idea and a brief overview of Nabhdrishti’s mission and the technologies you are currently working on?

All three co-founders of Nabhdrishti come with deep domain expertise in the gas turbine industry, having worked at global leaders like Rolls-Royce, GE, and DRDO. With decades of experience in designing and certifying cutting-edge gas turbines, we recognized the critical role these engines play in both propulsion and clean power generation. Despite being one of the world’s largest markets for gas turbines, India currently imports nearly 100% of its requirements. This glaring gap inspired us to build an indigenous, fuel-flexible gas turbine company—one that not only addresses national self-reliance but also drives sustainability through innovations like hydrogen-ready combustors and high-efficiency recuperators.

2 Cleaner fuels like hydrogen, biogas, and CNG are widely discussed in the context of power generation, but their role in aviation remains limited. From a technical and commercial lens, how viable do you believe these alternatives are for aviation propulsion — especially in emerging markets like India?

Cleaner fuels like hydrogen, biogas, and CNG hold tremendous promise for the future of aviation, but their widespread use is still a few years away. Technically, it’s becoming increasingly possible to design fuel-flexible engines that can work with these alternatives. However, commercial adoption faces several hurdles—safety concerns such as explosion risk and metal corrosion, lack of fueling infrastructure at airports, and long certification timelines in aviation. For emerging markets like India, the immediate opportunity lies in land-based applications like decentralized power generation and hybrid mobility. These offer a practical path to scale clean technology while building the foundation for its eventual use in aviation.

3 While hydrogen-powered systems are generating significant interest globally, the path to commercial deployment remains steep. What do you see as the most critical hurdles — whether in cost, infrastructure, certification, or end-user adoption — that must be overcome for these systems to become viable at scale?

Hydrogen is the fuel of the future—but today, it's still expensive, infrastructure-light, and tough to certify, especially for aviation.

Hydrogen-powered systems are promising, but several critical hurdles must be addressed before they can scale commercially. First, the cost of hydrogen remains high—both in production and distribution—which makes electricity or propulsion output significantly more expensive than conventional fuels. Second, infrastructure is still underdeveloped, with limited availability of hydrogen refueling or storage facilities, especially in emerging markets. Third, consumer sensitivity to power prices is a real challenge, making it difficult to pass on higher costs. Finally, certification timelines and regulatory readiness for hydrogen systems in sensitive applications like aviation add further complexity. Without parallel advances in supply chains, policy, and affordability, mainstream adoption remains a distant goal.

4 Deep tech ventures often struggle with conventional capital structures, especially in their early stages. Could you share your fundraising journey so far? Are you beginning to see a shift in investor appetite — particularly toward patient, risk-tolerant capital in India’s deep tech ecosystem?

Raising capital for deep tech in India is still challenging, especially at the early stages. Traditional VCs often hesitate due to long development timelines and delayed revenue visibility. That said, we’re beginning to see encouraging signs of change. Government initiatives, such as Startup India, DRDO programs, and the growing push for local sourcing, have helped de-risk early investment. The possibility of the state becoming the first customer—particularly in defense or strategic sectors—is also building investor confidence. In our case, we’ve successfully raised angel funding and secured grants from IISc and DRDO-aligned programs, and we’re seeing growing interest from micro-VCs and institutional backers who understand the long game of deep tech.

5 Ecosystem support — from advanced research labs to forward-leaning policy environments — can make or break a deep tech venture. What were the enabling pillars that helped you get off the ground, and what changes would you recommend to better support companies like yours going forward?Ecosystem support — from advanced research labs to forward-leaning policy environments — can make or break a deep tech venture. What were the enabling pillars that helped you get off the ground, and what changes would you recommend to better support companies like yours going forward?

Access to India’s top research institutions—especially IISc—was instrumental in getting Nabhdrishti off the ground. Collaborating with advanced labs gave us not only technical validation but also a credible platform for investor engagement. Early incubation and support from entities like IIMA Ventures provided catalytic funding and helped build early-stage credibility. We also benefited from government-aligned VC arms that were willing to take on risk where traditional investors hesitated.

That said, the deep tech ecosystem in India still needs more hardware-friendly policies, streamlined certification frameworks, and public procurement support that allows early-stage ventures to sell to the state. For deep tech startups, the government is often the first—and most strategic—customer. Policies that make procurement easier and faster can unlock massive momentum.

6 Looking ahead, what does Nabhdrishti’s long-term roadmap look like? What key milestones do you hope to cross over the next 5–10 years — both in terms of technological advancement and sectoral impact?

Nabhdrishti’s long-term vision is to become one of the top 5 global players in gas turbine technology for aviation and power generation within the next decade. In the near term, we’re focused on building high-efficiency, fuel-flexible engines for UAVs and hybrid platforms, with our first prototype targeting ground testing by 2025.

Over the next 3–5 years, our goal is to move from unmanned to manned flight, meeting key regulatory milestones with authorities like CEMILAC and DGCA. In parallel, we plan to scale our technology platform to larger power classes, enabling applications from decentralized power generation to engines for defense and civil aviation platforms.

We’re not just building engines—we’re building India’s self-reliant pathway in strategic propulsion systems, with sustainability and scalability at the core