Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India
“National Engineers’ Day is a celebration of the minds and ideas that have consistently transformed challenges into opportunities and possibilities into progress. As India moves towards an AI-led and digitally driven future, the role of engineers has become more critical than ever. They are shaping technologies that are transforming industries, businesses, and everyday experiences. From AI and intelligent computing to sustainable innovation, engineering is helping address some of the most complex challenges of our time. At Acer India, we believe engineering excellence is fundamental to creating meaningful and responsible technology. With India’s strong engineering talent and thriving technology ecosystem, the country is well positioned to shape the next wave of global innovation.”
Mitesh Jain, Regional VP, Akamai India
Engineering has always been about turning complex challenges into practical solutions. AI, cloud computing and digitalisation are giving engineers new ways to build systems that are more efficient, resilient and sustainable. The opportunity lies in using these technologies thoughtfully to create lasting impact.
As the role of engineering evolves, technical expertise must go hand in hand with a focus on scalability, efficiency and responsible use of resources. These principles will shape the technology we build for the future.
At Akamai, we see this in the growing demand for digital infrastructure that can support data intensive applications at scale. Our distributed cloud and security platform brings applications closer to users, helping improve performance, resilience and efficiency.
This National Engineers’ Day, we celebrate the engineers turning innovation into solutions that move businesses and society forward. The technology may change, but the purpose remains the same: solve problems and build a better way forward.
Sanket Deodhar, India Head, Anaplan
“Engineering excellence today is increasingly about designing systems that can adapt to change rather than simply perform under predictable conditions. As organisations navigate interconnected economic, operational, and technological challenges, engineers have a critical role in building intelligent systems that bring together data, human judgement, and AI to support faster, better-informed decisions. AI will expand what these systems can do, but its true value will depend on trusted data, strong design and the ability to apply innovation responsibly. For India, strengthening its technological capabilities will increasingly depend on developing the talent and expertise to design and govern intelligent systems that are transparent, adaptable and resilient. The engineers of the future will therefore need to think beyond individual technologies and understand how data, AI and business decisions connect across the enterprise, helping organisations model change, evaluate different scenarios and respond with greater confidence.”
Tejesh Kodali, Group Chairman, Blue Cloud Softech Solutions Limited
The Engineer’s Role in the Age of AI
“Engineers’ Day honours Sir M. Visvesvaraya, who built dams, irrigation systems and an entire industrial city with a slide rule and an iron will. A century later, India’s engineers face a harder question than how to build: what to build, and for whom. Artificial intelligence now writes code, designs circuits and drafts contracts. That does not make the engineer obsolete. It makes the engineer indispensable, because someone must decide what problem is worth solving, judge whether the answer is right, and take responsibility for the outcome. Those three things, choosing, judging and owning, cannot be delegated to a machine. At Blue Cloud we are building AI that runs on Indian infrastructure, trained on Indian data, answerable to Indian institutions, and we are betting the company on the engineers who will make it trustworthy. My message to every young engineer this Engineers’ Day is simple: do not learn to compete with AI. Learn to command it.”
Ramesh Kumar V, Co-founder & CEO, Grahaa Space
“On National Engineers’ Day, we celebrate the engineers who turn ideas into solutions that work in the real world. In space technology, that journey is especially challenging, where systems need to be designed for reliability and performance with very little room for intervention. At Grahaa Space, engineering shapes everything we build, from nanosatellite platforms and imaging capabilities to onboard computing and AI that can make satellite data more timely and useful.
As India’s space sector moves towards more commercial and application-driven technologies, engineers will play a critical role in turning what is possible in space into solutions that create value on Earth. The next generation will not just build spacecraft that reach orbit, but develop systems that turn satellite data into better decisions for agriculture, disaster preparedness, infrastructure and climate resilience. The real measure of engineering is not simply what we are able to build, but what that technology enables people to do better.”. – Ramesh Kumar V, Co-founder & CEO, Grahaa Space
Subhash Kalluri, Founder, FreJun
“Ideas are easy. Engineering is what turns an ambitious idea into something that can work reliably in the real world. On Engineer’s Day, I want to recognise the true builders who built the world’s infrastructure that the rest of us simply take for granted. They are the invisible giants, and the world moves on their shoulders without ever turning around to look. That is the mark of the craft. Done well, the work disappears into everyday life, and the day runs smoothly because someone thought hard about everything that could have gone wrong.
At FreJun, our engineering team has built voice infrastructure that businesses across multiple countries rely on daily, solving hard problems without asking for the spotlight. We see it in voice infrastructure today, where engineers are making AI agents dependable enough for everyday business use, which is what innovation really means: making complex systems simpler and more reliable at scale. To them, and to engineers everywhere, thank you. Today is yours.”
Arvind Aravamudhan, Senior Director of Platform Engineering, Harness
“Good engineering is often less about what one team can build and more about what their work enables others to achieve. The best engineering takes complexity out of the way, creates strong foundations for others to build on, and ultimately delivers outcomes that matter to customers and the business. It should also stand the test of time, continuing to scale as teams and organisations grow.
What truly matters is judgement, curiosity and the ability to think beyond the problem in front of you to understand the outcome you are trying to create and work backwards from it. As AI makes building faster and more accessible, that engineering judgement becomes even more important: knowing not just what to build, but why it matters and what impact it should create.
On Engineers’ Day, I want to celebrate the engineers whose work creates leverage for everyone around them helping teams build better, solve harder problems and turn engineering effort into meaningful outcomes.”
Sanjay Agrawal, Head Presales and CTO, Hitachi Vantara India and SAARC
“As India accelerates its digital transformation, engineering excellence will increasingly be defined by the strength, intelligence and sustainability of the systems we build. AI, automation, and data-driven innovation are opening new possibilities and shaping the infrastructure required to support India’s digital future. This places engineers at the centre of how data is managed, systems are secured and technology evolves efficiently at scale. Technological sovereignty is strengthened through the capability to build, secure and sustain advanced technologies with confidence and responsibility. This calls for a new generation of engineers who bring together deep technical expertise with cyber resilience awareness, energy efficiency and ethical innovation. Their ability to create intelligent, trusted and resilient systems will play an important role in shaping a technologically advanced and sustainable India.”
Deepak Dastrala, CEO, Purple Fabric AI (A Business Unit of Intellect Design Arena)
When answers are abundant, the right questions become more valuable.
“On National Engineers’ Day, we celebrate the curiosity to ask better questions, the courage to challenge assumptions, and the care to build things people can depend on. As AI makes answers more abundant, the engineer’s judgement about what matters becomes even more valuable.”
A useful question can reveal a need we have missed or an assumption we should challenge. “How can we do this faster?” may lead to a better process. “Why does the customer have to do this at all?” may lead to a better service.
This is why asking the right questions matters so much in the AI age. An answer can sound convincing even when it addresses the wrong need. We must be clear about the purpose, check the facts, and ask what could happen if we act on it.
Good questions grow from understanding. Engineers need to know the people using a service, the reasons behind business rules, and the lessons from past mistakes. Connecting that knowledge helps people and AI recognise what is missing and explore better possibilities.
AI can help us question our thinking, too. The responsibility for deciding what matters, and whether an answer is good enough to act on, remains ours.
Leaders should give young engineers room to ask why, challenge familiar approaches, and learn from customers. Curiosity needs encouragement, especially when it questions an established decision.
To engineers, my message is simple: use AI to expand what you can do. Stay curious about what people really need. The question you choose to pursue may be your most valuable contribution.
Vishal Sirohi, Co-Founder and CEO, Island Computing
“Indian engineers have built and operated the world’s largest cloud platforms from inside AWS, Microsoft, and Google. India has shipped at the application layer for two decades. Those engineers are now building the layer beneath it here: the distributed control and data plane, the identity substrate, and the orchestration that turns racks and GPUs into a product a builder consumes. Island Computing runs that platform, fault-tolerant across data centres, engineered from the first commit for multi-tenant SaaS, long-running agentic execution, and regulated AI on Indian data. An Island is up in 90 seconds. A production-grade, fault-resistant application deploys in three minutes.
India’s cloud spend is US$26.4 billion in 2026. Approximately 80% of it flows to foreign operators. The DPDP Act, RBI localisation, SEBI advisories, CERT-In’s six-hour incident-reporting directive, and the MeitY addendum of 20 March 2026 have moved infrastructure decisions from procurement to design. Sovereignty compounds only when the operator owns the code, the underlying hardware infrastructure, the control and data plane, the identity systems, the audit log, and the delivery of the platform, inside Indian jurisdiction.
Sir M. Visvesvaraya’s generation built the dams, waterworks, and railways the economy ran on. This generation is building the substrate it computes on.”
Priti Sawant, Founder & CEO, JoulestoWatts
“Engineering is entering a phase where the hardest questions are no longer just about what we can build, but what we should build and how responsibly we build it. As AI accelerates software development and digitalisation reshapes enterprises, the engineer’s role is becoming broader, connecting technical possibilities with business priorities, operational realities, and long-term impact. This is especially important as GCCs evolve into centres for product innovation, transformation, and global decision-making. At JoulestoWatts, we see this as contextual engineering, applying technology with a deep understanding of the enterprise, its people and the outcomes it needs to deliver. The engineers who create the greatest value will be those who can move beyond building faster to building with greater purpose, resilience, and efficiency. That is where engineering can play a defining role in creating a more sustainable future.”
Praveer Kochhar, Co-Founder & CPO, KOGO AI
National Engineer Day for me is about the realities nobody sees until it breaks. This year’s theme: smart engineering for a sustainable future through innovation and digitalization, is a call to build systems that scale without multiplying waste, whether that’s compute, tooling or human effort.
At KOGO AI, this shows up as a design constraint because every enterprise we work with is running 10 or more disconnected AI tools by the time they call us. This means separate systems for retrieval, evaluation, observability and governance and each of them has its own infrastructure footprint. Consolidating that into one operating layer is cleaner engineering because it cuts redundant compute, integration work and risk. When people think of sustainability in AI they immediately think of the carbon footprint and that matters but it is also about not rebuilding the same governance and audit logic five times for five different agents.
In addition, digitalization means nothing without ownership. An enterprise that digitizes its workflows with AI agents but is outsourcing its process IP to the third party is only renting their own assets. Good engineering means giving organizations the control plane to own that IP on-prem with an audit trail to prove when regulators come knocking on the door.
It’s obviously not glamorous work because it involves RBAC tables, drift monitoring, connector maintenance and more. But that’s what smart engineering for a sustainable future looks like in practice—fewer moving parts, less duplicated infrastructure and AI systems that get more capable over time. On that note, Happy National Engineers Day to everyone doing that essential work.
Joseph Sudheer Reddy Thumma, Chairman & Managing Director, Magellanic Cloud Limited
Turning Emerging Technologies into Real-World Impact
“Engineering continues to be at the heart of how new technologies move from ideas to real-world impact. On National Engineers’ Day, we recognise the contribution of engineers in advancing areas such as AI, drones, IoT and digital infrastructure, while solving increasingly complex challenges across industries. At Magellanic Cloud, we believe innovation thrives when engineers are empowered to experiment, build and scale solutions with purpose. Creating an environment that encourages continuous learning, problem-solving and applied innovation will be critical to developing resilient, future-ready technologies and strengthening the country’s broader technology ecosystem.” – Joseph Sudheer Reddy Thumma, Chairman & Managing Director, Magellanic Cloud Limited
Simon Rizkalla, Vice President Customer Advocacy APJ, New Relic
“Sustainability deserves to be as central to engineering conversations as innovation is. At New Relic, we’ve long believed operational excellence and sustainability should go hand in hand, which is why our engineering team practices GreenOps. Through this approach, our team optimises infrastructure efficiency to maximize performance, while reducing the environmental footprint of our workloads.
We committed to this early. In 2023, New Relic set a formal goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2030, backed by targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative. One of the first places we looked was our own cloud footprint, since infrastructure made up nearly half our total emissions at the time. We migrated our largest workloads from on-premises data centers onto AWS Graviton-based instances, cutting emissions from those migrated workloads by 37%.
The next frontier, for us and for engineering teams everywhere, is doing the same for AI. As AI becomes inseparable from how Indian engineering teams build software, using compute mindfully is becoming an engineering responsibility––intelligent observability is helping us achieve that. For example, an AI agent might take 15 model calls to complete a task that could have been done in four. Without observability, that looks like ordinary “AI usage.” However, with intelligent observability, teams can trace exactly where the extra calls are happening, understand why, and redesign the workflow, cutting cost and compute at the same time. These small steps are what lead to big, sustainable strides.
Building AI responsibly and sustainably are one in the same. On a day meant to celebrate what engineers build, it’s worth remembering how efficiently they build it, too.”
Ridhima Sawant, Chief Transformation Officer, Orient Technologies Limited
Shaping What Comes Next Through Engineering
“Engineering has never been just about building what exists; it has always been about expanding what is possible. From critical infrastructure to AI, cybersecurity, deep tech and digital innovation, engineers have continually changed the way we live, work and solve problems. Today, that role is being redefined. In an AI-driven world, technology can solve known problems faster than ever. But lasting impact will come from engineers who know which problems are worth solving, challenge assumptions and apply technology with judgement and purpose. AI can accelerate what we build, but human judgement will continue to define why we build it and the value it creates. For the next generation of engineers, preparing for this future means more than keeping pace with technology. It means staying curious, learning continuously, experimenting boldly and having the confidence to challenge conventional thinking. The real opportunity lies in turning emerging technologies into solutions that create meaningful, lasting value. Engineering today is not simply about working with the technologies shaping the future; it is about helping shape what comes next. The future of engineering will not be defined only by how quickly we adopt technology, but by how thoughtfully we use it to solve problems that matter.” – Ridhima Sawant, Chief Transformation Officer, Orient Technologies Limited
Milind Shah, Managing Director, Randstad Digital – India
“There’s a quiet competition happening for India’s digital engineering talent that rarely gets discussed, and it isn’t between companies; it’s between disciplines. The same engineer capable of architecting core digital systems, platforms, and infrastructure is increasingly being pulled toward the most visible layer of tech: AI and product roles, simply because that’s where the career narrative and compensation currently point. So, while India produces some of the world’s strongest digital engineering talent, the unglamorous but critical work of building resilient platforms, systems architecture, and digital infrastructure is now competing against more visible, headline-grabbing roles. India’s digital economy cannot run on application-layer talent alone; it needs digital engineers choosing to build the infrastructure layer too, and right now, we’re not making that choice attractive enough. It is important to bridge this gap before it becomes the bottleneck for India’s digital ambitions.”
Chandan Govindarajulu, Executive Vice President – Global Delivery & Business Leader, Virtusa Corporation
“A nation’s technological strength is defined not just by the technologies it adopts, but by its ability to build, understand and continually reimagine them. As AI and emerging technologies reshape industries, the role of engineers is evolving from building systems to shaping solutions designed for real-world impact.
This National Engineers’ Day, we celebrate the ingenuity and curiosity of engineers who turn complex challenges into meaningful progress. At Virtusa, our Engineering First approach is rooted in the belief that technology creates real value when engineering excellence is paired with a deep understanding of the problems it is meant to solve. The real opportunity lies in ensuring that as technology becomes more powerful, our ability to imagine, question and engineer responsibly grows with it.”- Chandan Govindarajulu, Executive Vice President – Global Delivery & Business Leader, Virtusa Corporation
Abhilash Shetty, Vice President & Head of Engineering & AI, Visionet
Engineering is a mindset, one driven by curiosity, a willingness to challenge convention, and a relentless pursuit of better ways to solve problems. As AI and emerging technologies reshape how we build new age systems, transform business processes, and create value, the role of engineers continues to evolve. Yet, what remains timeless is the ability to think critically, adapt, solve complex problems, and turn ideas into meaningful outcomes. With AI democratizing knowledge and expertise, the engineer’s role is evolving: from finding answers to framing better questions, challenging convention, and turning insight into impact.
This Engineers’ Day, we at Visionet celebrate the engineers shaping our AI-Native journey, turning complexity into opportunity, challenges into possibilities, and ideas into impact.
