Ankit Kumar – Founder, Alternative Global
The rise technology is inevitable around the world. Even the governments are trying to implement technologies in workforces. Technology-driven companies in India are also focussing on the future dominated by technology. One such company, Alternative Global India, is among the key players of technology-driven space. In an interview with Pahi Mehra of My Mobile, Ankit Kumar, Founder, Alternative Global, shares his thoughts on how drones come into service in India, and on the electrical and technological infrastructure of the country, and how we can innovate in the drone sector.
What was the idea behind the inception of your company? The management consulting space is very wide and specific service oriented. We wanted to focus on niche and future oriented business verticals. Our journey incepted in 2016 focusing on Electric Mobility and Drones, both the industry were quite nascent and over the years we developed expertise in both the verticals being one of the leading and respectable consulting name in the market. The idea behind Alternative Global is to help emerging markets adapt the best of technology in the focused verticals and rise at par with developed nations. India as an emerging market has the potential to lead the EV race as well as be the Drone capital of the world. We have the best of both worlds - manufacturing and service.
How does your company rely on technology? Can you give us some insights? We are surrounded by all sorts of technology. We work with technology driven companies in Drone and EV space to understand the product-market fit and launch appropriate technology products in emerging markets and help them grow the business.
What are your thoughts about the electrical infrastructure of India? The EV ecosystem is building at the moment. At both, central and state levels there are numerous efforts which are being taken to add more charging stations and enable faster adoption of electric mobility. We will get to see the results in the years to come. There are ample of incentives and Govt. charging station setup schemes helping people to utilise EVS for daily commute. Our portfolio company, Gozero Mobility is also building an ecosystem to promote active mobility in the country with charging/parking stations at several corporate locations. The infrastructure will further develop with more people adopting electric mobility.
According to you how can drones come to service in India? Drones are already in service in India, there is already an ecosystem of drone manufacturers, service providers and ancillary makers existing and growing with time. I would say, Drones are still at a nascent stage with most of the startups in the ecosystem but at the same time the vibrancy and the amount of innovation present is leading this industry to grow multi-fold. In the years to come,
few segments such as delivery and urban air mobility will rise more prominently and given the government’s focus on drones, the industry will outpace some of the developed markets to become the largest drone market in the world.
How do you differentiate yourself in an industry that is still in its nascent phase? Well, there is both “fun & fight”. I really like getting involved in doing something which no one has done before, there’s a lot of fun & fight in doing things for the first time and it brings immense learning to grow. Drone & EVS both are ever evolving verticals, every few weeks there are technological developments which lead to market growth and product diversity. There’s a lot of action in the mid that you get to see.
How well do you think drones can be used for surveillance and inspection? Drones are very apt for surveillance and inspection and are being used for over a decade now especially in defence. For commercial applications, there are multiple usage that have emerged over the past few years especially in Oil & Gas, Mining, Power Distribution, Telecom, Security etc. The need for data oriented business has led to faster adoption of drones for surveillance and inspection applications. I am aware of 50+ companies in India that are using drones for surveying and inspection in different locations. This adoption with time will increase and lead to more digital approach to create repository of information leading to revenue for an organisation. Drones in different ways are contributing to make our PM’S vision of “Digital India” a reality in all forms. Drones are also being widely utilised by several state governments, Survey of India and other agencies for surveys.
Would you say that drone technology has been a boon amid such critical times? Absolutely, drones have proven to be a big boon during the pandemic and lockdown. There are several new application segments where drones were utilised in the last few months such as public announcements, surveying the zones to ensure mass gathering is not taking place, law and order management, spraying sanitiser etc. Drones have helped public authorities during such times to best utilise the available technology and control the spread. Not only this, drones also proved their benefits during the locusts attack, several drones were deployed to spray chemicals to control the spread of locusts in various parts of North India.
How can we have more companies making innovations in the drone space? There are two key aspects that shall lead this industry to grow much faster, “Regulations” and “Funding”. If the regulations are made more industry friendly and support the entire ecosystem, this shall give a lot of push to the companies to keep innovating and developing better technology and products. Secondly, the funding in this space in India is very limited. Private investors and companies shall consider investing into startups who are developing breakthrough technology. This shall give push and required support for overall development leading to growth. We realised this sometime back and started investing in this space. We are closing our first investment in this category very soon.
“Drones are very apt for surveillance and inspection and are being used for over a decade now especially in defence”
What next can we expect from Alternative Global? We believe in working on exciting and breakthrough technologies. At the moment we are working on several things both in EVS and Drones, aside investments. Delivery and Urban Air Mobility are key to the development of drone space in India. We are trying to make Drone Delivery a reality. Soon, our BVLOS trials shall begin. ■