India must pivot from ‘copy-paste’ startups to true innovation, says ShareKhan founder Shripal Morakhia

In an era where "disruption" is often just a marketing buzzword for rebranding existing western models, Shripal Morakhia stands as a rare architect of original Indian ecosystems. The man who gave India its first sophisticated retail brokerage with ShareKhan and pioneered age-agnostic immersive gaming with Smaaash is now looking at a horizon dominated by Artificial Intelligence and his verdict for the Indian startup ecosystem is sobering.

Morakhia argues that India’s current startup boom is largely built on a "brick-and-click" illusion. We are, in his view, currently "buying second-hand clothes, rebranding them, and selling them as new." While the country celebrates billion-dollar valuations in quick-commerce and food delivery, Morakhia points to a glaring void in deep-tech, robotics, and hardware.

"Where is the startup that makes you feel proud because you didn’t exploit anyone except your brain to create something unique?" he asks. He notes that while US and China are locked in an AI arms race, India is focused on "value addition" of 15-20 per cent assembling phones rather than designing the chips that power them.

Drawing from his experience of surviving the Dot-com crash, Morakhia warns of a massive correction in the AI space unless companies can show a clear path to profitability. He offers a provocative assessment of the global landscape: while the US may lead in Large Language Models (LLMs), China is "far superior" in application and cost-efficiency.

Interestingly, Morakhia is putting his theories into practice. He is currently 95 per cent complete with a "Jungle Book" film created entirely through AI. Bypassing expensive US software, he utilised Chinese AI applications to achieve high-end results at a fraction of the cost, proving that the future of creativity lies in "knowing what to talk to the AI about," rather than just technical coding.

The Entrepreneur’s Burden

Reflecting on his own journey, including the high-stakes battle to revive Smaaash post-COVID and his public fallout with lenders, Morakhia offers a crucial distinction for the next generation: "Be creative and bold, but don’t be emotional like I was. Be creative and logical."

He advocates for a "co-promoter" model for visionaries, ensuring that a professional partner manages the organisational debt and structure while the "creator" focuses on the vision. His most urgent advice? Never take debt on the books until the business is throwing off enough cash to repay it over a five-year cycle.

The Philosophy of Resilience: Never Say Die

This spirit of relentless persistence is the core theme of his latest book, "Never Say Die." Far from a standard business memoir, the book serves as a raw, unfiltered look at the grit required to build, lose, and rebuild in the volatile Indian market. It is a call to arms for entrepreneurs to move beyond the "copy-paste" culture and embrace the grueling, yet rewarding, path of original creation. For Morakhia, the message is simple: in the world of high-stakes innovation, the only true failure is choosing to stay down.