Baiju Bhatt, Aetherflux and the Promise — and Peril — of India’s Tech Moment as 2026 Nears

As the world edges toward 2026, a year widely expected to mark a new phase of technological acceleration, a striking contrast is emerging. On one side are audacious breakthroughs that promise to reshape energy, computing and artificial intelligence. On the other lies a turbulent geopolitical and economic landscape that threatens to blunt their impact — especially for countries like India. Few stories capture this tension better than that of Indian-American billionaire “Baiju Bhatt” and his radical new energy venture, Aetherflux.

Aetherflux and the dream of solar power from space

Bhatt, best known as the co-founder of the commission-free trading platform “Robinhood”, is now chasing a far grander ambition: harvesting solar energy in space and beaming it down to Earth using precision lasers. His start-up, Aetherflux, is betting that advances in miniaturisation and launch capabilities have finally made space-based solar power viable.

The idea itself is not new. Scientists have floated it for decades, but earlier concepts required satellite arrays the size of small cities, rendering them impractical. Bhatt’s pitch is different. Aetherflux aims to deploy relatively compact spacecraft capable of transmitting energy to small, ground-based receiving stations. If successful, this could bypass many of the land-use, intermittency and storage challenges that plague terrestrial solar power.

The first major test is imminent. Bhatt plans to attach a demonstration spacecraft to a “SpaceX” rocket by mid-2026. He is candid about the risks. Once launched, there is no room for error — no second chances to fix a loose bolt in orbit. Yet it is precisely this willingness to attempt the improbable that has drawn comparisons with “Elon Musk”.

Technology’s golden horizon — AI and quantum computing

Aetherflux is part of a broader technological ferment. Artificial intelligence is rapidly embedding itself into everyday life, transforming office work, healthcare diagnostics, education and logistics. Quantum computing, though still nascent, looms as a potential game-changer, capable of rendering today’s machines obsolete for certain classes of problems.

Together, these technologies suggest a future of extraordinary productivity and innovation. But they are unfolding in a world where political decisions increasingly shape who benefits — and who pays the price.

Trump’s return and a fractured global order

Casting a long shadow over these breakthroughs is the second presidency of “Donald Trump”. In less than a year, Trump has upended long-standing alliances and trade relationships. Europe has been destabilised, Japan has been pushed to accelerate military spending, and India finds itself burdened with punitive tariffs of up to 50% on exports to the U.S.

After two decades of steadily deepening ties with Washington, New Delhi has been forced into awkward recalibrations — cautiously warming ties with China despite unresolved border tensions in Ladakh, and reviving engagement with Russia, a partner now far weaker and heavily dependent on Chinese capital.

How tariffs are hitting Indian industry

The fallout is already visible across Indian industry. Traditional export pillars such as gems and jewellery, textiles and leather are struggling to remain competitive under the weight of steep tariffs. The pain is even sharper in the software services sector, long the backbone of India’s white-collar employment boom.

Demand from U.S. clients has softened, but the bigger shock has come from immigration policy. H-1B visas have become prohibitively expensive, with fees reportedly touching $100,000 per employee. Industry leader “Tata Consultancy Services” has said that only about 500 of its employees are travelling on H-1B visas this year — a fraction of past numbers.

AI and the existential test for India’s IT model

For India’s software services industry, 2026 could be a watershed. AI can now perform in minutes tasks that once required large teams working for weeks. This is forcing a rethink not just of delivery models, but of the entire business logic of outsourcing.

TCS has already announced layoffs of around 12,000 employees and is attempting a strategic pivot, including plans for a massive data centre in Visakhapatnam. Consultant “Pareekh Jain” describes the situation as a “double shock”: rapid technological disruption combined with the need to reinvent business models from scratch.

Others are responding in different ways. “Accenture” has committed $1 billion to retraining its workforce, while making it clear that employees who cannot adapt will be left behind.

The jobs question and a generational crossroads

The implications for employment are profound. The IT services sector has been India’s single largest absorber of graduate talent. In 2022–23 alone, “Infosys” hired 50,000 recruits; across the industry, hiring touched nearly 290,000, with total employment at 5.4 million.

That era may be ending. As Jain warns, bulk hiring of fresh graduates is likely to shrink sharply. While global capability centres may continue to hire selectively, traditional IT services will not. Graduates may increasingly be forced to look toward manufacturing, construction, government jobs, start-ups or entrepreneurship.

Glimmers of resilience amid uncertainty

There are, however, signs of resilience. India’s start-up ecosystem continues to scale. In 2025, 18 Indian start-ups went public, and the sector raised around $11 billion in funding. These ventures may not yet match IT services in employment generation, but they offer alternative pathways for a younger, more entrepreneurial workforce.

A moment that could define a generation

As India heads into 2026, it finds itself suspended between extraordinary technological promise and acute geopolitical and economic stress. Visionaries like Baiju Bhatt embody the former — a belief that bold innovation can redefine energy, productivity and growth. But the latter — protectionism, automation-driven job losses, and geopolitical churn — will determine how widely those gains are shared.

Whether this moment becomes a springboard into a new future or a reckoning that reshapes a generation’s aspirations will depend not just on technology, but on the policy choices and adaptations India makes in the years immediately ahead.