India must maintain its sovereignty and not become a technological colony of the West, former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Friday as he emphasised the need to innovate in a nimble, cost-effective manner.

Speaking at Startup Mahakumbh here, he cautioned against adopting Western models that could lead to loss of India's culture, identity, and civilisational strength.

"It's very important for India to maintain its sovereignty in technological advancement and leading from the front, we must not become a technological colony of either the West or of any other country in the world. We must continue to innovate in a very nimble, in a very less energy-consuming, cost-effective manner," the G20 Sherpa said.

He asserted that the country must build sovereign frontier models based on its own data sets and free of the West's inherent biases.