Watch: Ronnie Screwvala’s big edtech bet

Ronnie Screwvala, 64, is a household name in India, not only as a leading film producer, but also as a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. Screwvala is also the co-founder of upGrad, South Asia’s largest higher edtech company, which is at the forefront of revolutionising education in India.

Screwvala has recently brought out a telling new report titled ‘Non-linear Thinking’, which he puts forward as an alternative line of thought to propel India to its true potential. Non-linear thinking, Screwvala says, assumes a higher level of risk than normal, where past experiences do not define future ones. According to him, there is a fundamental problem with education in India: its failure to inculcate the habit of taking risk in students. It is a phenomenon which has hindered the country’s intellectual development, and needs to be corrected if we are to embrace the possibilities of the future. In a freewheeling conversation with Fortune India and Editorji, Screwvala deconstructs the idea of non-linear thinking, and how edtech is changing the education ecosystem for the better.