India must invest more in innovation, incubation, and original ideas, said Prasoon Joshi, chairman, Omnicom Advertising India and chairman, Prasar Bharti, during the inaugural session of Goafest 2026, which kicked off on Wednesday. “Stronger collaboration between media, corporates, government, and creators is essential,” he added
He was speaking at a discussion, ‘Resetting Brand India: From Growth Story to Growth Strategy’, which also featured Rajiv Kumar, chairman of Pahle India Foundation and former vice-chairman of NITI Aayog; and Nikhil Sharma, managing director, Perfetti Van Melle India.
Escaping the Low-Cost Trap
Kumar said private entrepreneurs will drive India’s future growth, with the government playing a supportive rather than controlling role.
“India’s FMCG and consumer market operates at an enormous scale, where affordability continues to dominate consumer behaviour. While India has achieved huge volume growth, value growth remains limited, underlining the need for greater innovation and more premium-quality Indian products.”
Global trust and respect for Indian professionals have grown significantly, and Indian media and storytelling are now globally competitive, said Perfetti’s Sharma. “Innovation suffers when businesses focus only on low-cost products, but encouragingly, Indian consumers are slowly becoming more confident in Made-in-India products,” he added.
Another standout session of the day was ‘Resetting the Limits of What’s Possible’. Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur said her knock of 171 against Australia in 2017 changed women’s cricket and inspired many girls to take up the sport, while the 2017 World Cup became a major turning point for visibility and support for women’s cricket.
Targeting the Indian Prosumer
Adding a strong business and industry lens to the day’s agenda, LinkedIn hosted a keynote, ‘Meet the Indian Prosumer; Reaching High-Value Professional Consumers’, where Dave Yang, managing director – SMB & Mid Market – APAC, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, unpacked the emergence of India’s ambitious professional consumer and its growing influence on business and brand strategy.
“Trusted voices, authentic storytelling, and professional conversations are becoming increasingly important as people rely more on AI-driven discovery journeys. For brands, this presents an opportunity to connect with high-value professional consumers in more relevant and meaningful ways,” he said.