In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal speaks with Stanford behavior scientist B.J. Fogg about how habits are designed, how they break, and the science that governs lasting behavior change.

With over 30 years of research in behavior science, Fogg is the creator of the Tiny Habits method and the author of Tiny Habits, widely regarded as one of the most practical frameworks for building habits in real life. He has taught at Stanford since the mid-1990s and has personally coached tens of thousands of people in applying behavior design at scale.

If you’re looking for a grounded, evidence-based way to build better habits without pressure or perfection, this conversation with B.J. Fogg offers clarity, practicality, and lasting value.

Chapters:0:00-1:36 Intro

1:37-5:54 BJ Fogg's journey into Habit Science

5:55-9:29 Influence of technology in behaviour

9:30-14:49 Science behind building habits

15:00-23:09 Role of the environment in daily habits

23:10-29:55 How to stick to new year resolutions

29:56-35:21 Staying consistent with habits

35:22-38:59 Using self reward to build habits

39:00-45:21 Science behind breaking bad habits

45:22-48:01 BJ Fogg's personal story with addictions

48:02-51:41 How identity shapes behaviour change

51:42-55:03 What's next in habit research

55:05-57:19 AI's role in self improvement

57:30 - 57:39 Outro

In this episode of SparX, Mukeshl sits down with, Debjani Ghosh, leader of  the Frontier Tech Hub within NITI Aayog for a critical discussion. They dive deep into India's technological future, the existential role of AI in national growth, and the dramatic changes impacting careers and geopolitics.

Debjani, who brings a unique perspective from 21 years at Intel and leadership at NASSCOM, discusses her experience driving change from within the government and why technology is now the "axis of power" globally.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal sits down with economist and policy thinker Neelkanth Mishra to unpack why he believes this is the true golden age of Indian entrepreneurship.

They talk about:

• Falling cost of capital and a stronger banking system expanding access to debt and equity.

• Massive domestic flows via SIPs, EPFO, and insurance fueling startups and exits.

• Policy shifts in GST, decriminalization, and state reforms that slowly ease doing business.

• The next wave beyond internet startups: fintech, precision manufacturing, hardware, semiconductors, and data centers.

• The next wave of entrepreneurship beyond internet companies: fintech, precision manufacturing, hardware, semiconductors, data centers, and chip design.

• Aadhaar’s evolution into a trust and KYC layer, and how lower unit costs in finance, education, and health can break vicious economic cycles.

• Navigating big tech power, US–China tensions, and political noise while staying focused on India’s long runway from $4T to $20T GDP.

If you’re interested in where India’s economy is really headed, how policy and infrastructure shape founder opportunities, or what it takes to build in the middle of geopolitical churn, this conversation with Neelkanth offers rare clarity, realism, and optimism.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal sits down with Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Info Edge (Naukri.com), the man who quietly built the foundation of India’s internet economy.

From bootstrapping Naukri for 10 years without a salary to backing iconic startups like Zomato and Policybazaar, Sanjeev’s story is a masterclass in patience, conviction, and timing. He reflects on his early dreams of entrepreneurship in the 1970s, quitting his stable job in the 80s for independence, surviving the dot-com bubble, and helping shape India’s startup ecosystem.

They talk about:

• How Naukri was born before the internet arrived in India.

• The 7 years Sanjeev lived without a salary and how he made it work.

• Missing early investments in Flipkart, Ola, and Lenskart and what he learned.

• The mental models around luck, timing, and persistence.

• Why India still hasn’t built trillion-dollar tech companies and how that could change.

• His hopes for India’s next wave of startups in AI, deep tech, and IP creation.
  

Sanjeev also opens up about his personal evolution from a restless 25-year-old marketer selling Horlicks to one of India’s most respected entrepreneurs and investors.

If you want to understand the real DNA of Indian entrepreneurship, this conversation is a rare glimpse into the mind of the man who started it all.

Chapters:

00:00 – 01:18 Introduction

01:19 – 03:38 Missing Flipkart, Myntra & Ola

03:39 – 10:10 The JRD Tata Moment

10:11 – 17:36 Early Career & Struggles

17:37 – 24:08 First Startup Experiments

24:09 – 30:09 How Naukri Was Born

30:10 – 41:44 Dotcom boom & crazy valuations

41:45 – 44:14 The Role of Luck

44:15 – 51:27 Betting Early on India’s Unicorns

51:28 – 54:09 What He Seeks in Founders

54:10 – 1:03:03 Can India Build Trillion-Dollar Tech Giants?

1:03:04 – 1:10:22 Career Advice from Sanjeev

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal sits down with Peeyush Bansal, Co-founder and CEO of Lenskart. They dive into Peeyush’s journey from building early ventures to creating one of India’s most impactful consumer brands. How his mission to solve India’s vision crisis became a movement to make eyewear accessible for all.

They talk about:

Why India remains the blind capital of the world.

The untapped opportunity in the eye correction market.

Crises and hard choices that shaped Lenskart’s growth.

Why putting the customer first isn’t a strategy, but a survival skill.

How to build with purpose in a market that often overlooks real needs.

The challenge of scaling offline retail.

If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, purpose-driven business, or building in India’s next wave of consumer health innovation this conversation offers clarity, in every sense.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal talks with Abhay Karandikar, Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology and former Director of IIT Kanpur. They break down how India can build core technology at home, move research from labs to real products, and grow deep tech in AI, quantum, space, biotech, energy and medical tech.

They speak about:

How capital will be deployed through trusted second-level fund managers like AIFs, DFIs, TDB, BIRAC and IIT research parks

Priority areas, from energy transition to biotech, quantum, robotics, space and defence tech

The path from basic research to product, including the TRL 4 to 6 valley of death

India’s AI plan, including language models, curated datasets and GPU infrastructure

The national quantum mission across computing, communication, sensing and materials

If you are building deep tech in India or tracking where the next breakthroughs may come from, this conversation is a must-watch.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal speaks with Manish Gupta, Senior Director at Google DeepMind. They discuss how artificial intelligence is evolving, what it means to build truly inclusive AI, and why India must aim higher in research, innovation, and ambition.

Manish shares DeepMind’s vision of solving “root node problems,” fundamental scientific challenges that unlock breakthroughs across fields, and how AI is already accelerating discovery in areas like biology, materials, and medicine.

They talk about:

• What AGI really means and how close we are to it.
  

• Why India needs to move from using AI to creating it.
  

• The missing research culture in Indian industry, and how to fix it.
  

• How AI can transform healthcare, learning, and agriculture in India.
  

• Why ambition, courage, and willingness to fail are essential to deep innovation.
  

Manish also shares insights from his career across the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center and now DeepMind, two of the world’s most iconic research environments, and what it will take for India to build its own.

If you care about India’s AI journey, research, and the future of innovation, this conversation is a masterclass in what it takes to move from incremental progress to world-changing breakthroughs.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal sits down with Roopa Kudva, former head of CRISIL and Omidyar Network India, to discuss her new book Leadership Beyond the Playbook and her powerful reflections on leadership.

Roopa shares why leadership is not about following fixed frameworks but about writing your own playbook, shaped by values, lived experiences, and conscious choices. They explore:

• The toughest transition from middle to top management and why so few make it
  

• How leaders can build breadth of experience and step out of silos
  

• Why authenticity and developing your unique leadership identity matter more than copying styles
  

• The barriers that hold women back from leadership roles and what it will take for India to change that
  

• Why mental health is a critical leadership issue and how leaders can normalize conversations around it
  

• The role of reflection, sponsors, and executive coaches in accelerating leadership growth
  

Roopa also shares stories from her own journey, from pioneering credit ratings in India, to asking for the Chief Ratings Officer role at CRISIL, to driving impact investing at scale, and why she believes leadership is both deeply personal and a national imperative.

If you are curious about how leaders are made, the challenges of growing into bigger roles, and what it takes to build an authentic leadership path in today’s world, this episode is a must watch.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal takes a hard look at the state of India’s deep tech ecosystem. While the world races ahead with AI, semiconductors, and frontier science, India is at a crossroads: will we be creators of technology, or just consumers?

Mukesh argues that true deep tech is only possible when rooted in deep science, a culture of research, curiosity, and discovery. He unpacks why India risks being left behind if we don’t invest in science the way the US, Europe, and China have, and what it will take for India to build original IP, Nobel-worthy science, and globally competitive deep tech companies.

He explores:

• Why India’s dependence on foreign tech poses a strategic risk.

• The looming threats to IT services and startup ecosystems.

• How India can move from “Make in India” to “Discover in India, Invent in India, then Make in India.”

• Lessons from history: how breakthroughs in physics, AI, and the internet all started with curiosity-driven science.

• What it will take for India to aspire to Nobel Prizes, original IP, and world-class innovation.

This is not just about technology, it's about India’s future. If you care about Viksit Bharat, scientific ambition, and the next wave of innovation, this video is a must-watch.

In this episode of SparX, Mukesh Bansal speaks with Rana Adhikari, experimental physicist at Caltech and leading voice in gravitational-wave research. From doubting Einstein as a student to helping build the LIGO detectors that confirmed his theories, Rana has been honoured with the Breakthrough Prize, Gruber Prize, and the New Horizons in Physics Prize.

They dive into:

• What gravitational waves really are, and how LIGO measures distortions smaller than an atom.

• The story behind LIGO’s breakthrough detections which is now catching 2–3 black hole mergers every week.

• Why LIGO-India, now approved and funded, could be the world’s most precise detector and even test Einstein’s theory of relativity itself.

• The cutting-edge role of quantum entanglement and AI in pushing measurement beyond classical limits.

• Building a thriving science ecosystem in India focused on mentorship, risk-taking, and the path to future Nobel Prizes.

Rana also shares his personal journey from tinkering as an auto mechanic in Florida, to becoming one of the world’s foremost experimental physicists, and now working closely with India to bring world-class science infrastructure to life.

If you’re curious about black holes, the true nature of reality, or India’s chance to lead in fundamental science, this conversation is a must-watch.