Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said India is entering a decisive decade and urged that design be treated as a strategic national capability rather than cosmetic. He said design connects technology with people and converts ideas into systems, products and experiences that deliver public value. He presented design as central to the Viksit Bharat vision for 2047.\n\nHe highlighted India’s demographic dividend, noting an average age of about 28.5 years and nearly two point three million (mn) STEM graduates, and said these strengths will serve as force multipliers. He said these assets can expand growth into remote regions and strengthen international engagement. He argued that integrating design as a core national capability is essential to realise the ambition of a developed nation.\n\nHe said India’s cultural diversity in food, textiles and languages represents its greatest design capital and that blending heritage with contemporary design can create distinctive, hard to replicate products. He described the National Institute of Design (NID) as an evolving national network and an institution of national importance addressing technical and social challenges. He noted the Budget announcement of a new NID campus in eastern India to democratise access to world?class design education.\n\nHe said the new institute will link traditional craft clusters, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and emerging industries with design education to help artisans move up the value chain and help MSMEs diversify products. He proposed design clinics, live cluster projects and deeper industry?academic linkages to make design accessible to citizens and traditional workers. He called for public?private partnerships to support artisans and not?for?profit organisations.\n\nHe set out a five?point agenda to position NID campuses as regional knowledge hubs, create service and Brand India design labs for governance, tourism and healthcare, and establish joint artificial intelligence and frontier technology design labs with technical institutes. He warned that technology without thoughtful design could deepen inequality and stressed the need to prepare citizens for deployment. He expressed confidence that a model NID campus would help make design a central pillar of India’s development journey.