Chhavideep Singh
Source: Mobility India
Noida-based Vehant Technologies is a leading manufacturer of physical security, traffic monitoring systems and surveillance equipment in India and this company is releasing India from its reliance on Chinese suppliers for X-ray baggage scanners which are used at railways, airports, metro stations and multiple other locations to scan baggage and luggage for safety and security purposes.
According to several reports, X-Ray baggage segment in India have always been dominated by the Chinese manufacturers and suppliers and amid the political tension between India and China, the government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have constantly been promoting their ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative which literally means ‘self-reliant India’.
So, the next time you visit an airport or railway station, there are chances that your baggage might be scanned by a homegrown, ‘Made in India’ X-ray Scanner machine developed by Indian suppliers. Although, this transition is on its way and not fully complete, but the recent government-induced bans on hundreds of Chinese mobile applications and Chinese suppliers have opened doors for Indian suppliers to serve the country.
Vehant technologies is one such company, a pioneer of state-of-the-art security and surveillance equipment among other products that provide solutions to meet the demands of global standards and features continuously changing and evolving technology in the mentioned segment.
Kapil Bardeja, co-founder and CEO of Vehant Technologies says that because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the induced nationwide lockdown, there has not been much demand in the market as the economy has been down in the past few months. He says that the sales have been down in 2020 but the ban by the government has definitely helped a lot. He also mentions that the company has recently signed two major deals with Punjab prisons and Kolkata Metro, according to a report by Financial Express.
Furthermore, Vehant Technologies is one of the first companies in the country to locally provide X-Ray Scanning Equipment and as the country heads towards becoming self-reliant in most aspects, the company can anticipate a promising future within a growing economy full of potential.
In a report, it was mentioned that the Noida-based company develops over 600 X-Ray baggage scanners in a year including other security and surveillance machines.
Co-founder Kapil Bardeja also mentions that about 25% components for the machine still has to be imported from foreign vendors which previously was China but after government guidelines about import from China in May 2020, the company switched to other western vendors removing China from the list, as mentioned in a report by Financial Express.
Currently, the western companies topping the X-Ray Baggage Scanners segment include Smiths Detection, 3D Xray, Astrophysics and Rapiscan.
However, Indian manufacturing of such machines is fairly new in India and cannot yet compete with 5000 pieces per year developed by foreign players as compared to 500 machines manufactured annually. Still, with the support of the Indian government, the market will rise as the sector is untapped and contains a lot of hidden potential, according to analysts and market experts.