Cybercrime is now a $10.5 trillion economy — bigger than most nations. The next war won’t be fought with tanks alone. This high-stakes panel from Mumbai’s MaxCity Voice of the World 2025 brings together defence and tech strategists to map the battlefield of the future across domains: AI, drones, space, information warfare, and cyber.
Speakers reveal that China is using Pakistani officers to teach Punjabi and Marathi to operatives who then run coordinated social media influence campaigns during Indian elections. Two AI systems, left to converse, developed their own language within minutes. The implications for sovereignty, governance, and civilizational survival are explored without diplomatic softening.
India’s preparation — or lack thereof — for integrated, multi-domain warfare is scrutinised. A timely and technically grounded conversation for anyone tracking where global power is actually moving.

About the speakers:
Lt. Gen. PJS Pannu (Moderator), PVSM, AVSM, VSM, is the former Deputy Chief of IDS (Operations), where he led joint operations among the Army, Navy, and Air Force. He raised India’s Defence Space and Cyber Agencies and the Special Forces Division, and conducted the first space exercise, IndspaceX, in 2019.

Mangesh Sawant is a security and risk expert with over 20 years of experience in homeland and global security, counterterrorism, geopolitical and political risk, and threat intelligence. He specializes in managing Grey Rhino and Black Swan events.

Brijesh Singh is a senior IPS officer and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He previously served as Additional Director-General of Police and led Maharashtra Cyber, overseeing the state’s cybersecurity efforts for several years.

Dr. Rajesh Kasturirangan is Co-founder and President of Socratus. He is a mathematician and a cognitive scientist whose research is on how language and concepts are grounded in the world.