Speaker 1: This is the Startup still same podcast.
Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning in, Give us a paper like
Speaker 2: some surcrive on YouTube or LinkedIn and be sure to
Speaker 2: give us your feedback.
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, this is Anthony Prakash. Welcome to another new
Speaker 2: episode of Startups. They'll say, thanks for joining us on
Speaker 2: this brand new episode. I'm privileged today to have Venka
Speaker 2: Chindaru from the arcadis Ibi group. VENKTT and I have
Speaker 2: known each other for the last twelve to almost fourteen months.
Speaker 2: I would say I met him last year in Bangalore
Speaker 2: and he and I have talked about several things which
Speaker 2: we'll talk about on this podcast. And he keeps doing
Speaker 2: a lot of fun stuff in the world of mobility
Speaker 2: transportation and alongside that a lot of innovation in that space.
Speaker 2: So Venkat, first of all, welcome to the show. Thanks
Speaker 2: for joining us at six am India time from Bangalore.
Speaker 3: Thanks thanks, Anthony.
Speaker 1: And then I'm really and also very excited to be
Speaker 1: part of your podcasts and then to go journey along
Speaker 1: with you and release some of the moments that we
Speaker 1: had together in Bangalore and then probably discuss some of
Speaker 1: the interesting aspects that you.
Speaker 3: Would like to hear from me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, perfect, thanks Mencot. So first of all, I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, in coming from the technology background myself, I
Speaker 2: don't run into a lot of people who are involved
Speaker 2: in say what we do on a daily basis, you know,
Speaker 2: drive on the street, figure out, look at transportation signals,
Speaker 2: traffic lights and things like that. And when I saw
Speaker 2: your session the first time, I mean I was blown
Speaker 2: away by the amount of technology that actually goes into that,
Speaker 2: the amount of work that goes into that. Then we
Speaker 2: also heard from the Assistant Commissioner of Police and Bangalore
Speaker 2: ask you how much technology they utilize. I mean, and
Speaker 2: in a lot of ways in tandem working with you guys.
Speaker 2: So maybe when I start with your college career, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, I see that you did civil engineering in
Speaker 2: your bachelor's program, but you shifted from civil engineering and
Speaker 2: did transportation systems as your masters, I mean, out of
Speaker 2: everything that is out there, what made you transportation engineer?
Speaker 1: Yeah, when we studied civil engineering in our graduation, I
Speaker 1: think transportation was also part of so but what excited
Speaker 1: me was when I actually went to i T Bombay
Speaker 1: for after my m tech Gate qualification for an interview,
Speaker 1: and then I happened to meet and who happened to
Speaker 1: be my guide and my mentor and the philosopher subsequently,
Speaker 1: and the work that he's doing and and the projects
Speaker 1: that they're doing had impressed me a lot and excited
Speaker 1: me a lot as a student at that stage. And
Speaker 1: then I've been offered a special m tech under research program,
Speaker 1: so and then that that's one of the best things
Speaker 1: that actually happened, I believe at that time.
Speaker 3: And he actually took me through.
Speaker 1: The exciting things that they're doing in terms of in
Speaker 1: the city of Mumbai, how they are actually trying to
Speaker 1: work on large infra projects, how they're doing modeling, and
Speaker 1: that usually excites any student at that time. And in fact,
Speaker 1: I went to id Bombay to get an mp tech
Speaker 1: into structural engineering, which was a fascination.
Speaker 3: At that point in time.
Speaker 1: But when I heard and then I'm completely strayed away
Speaker 1: by my professor and then that's how it all happened,
Speaker 1: and I never looked back. I think that decision was
Speaker 1: the decisions I feel I took it at any point
Speaker 1: in time in my.
Speaker 2: Life that is perfect and I still remember the days.
Speaker 2: You know, I actually come from a mechanical engineering background, myself,
Speaker 2: but I've done nothing related to mechanical engineering in my career.
Speaker 2: The only computer science lab we used to have was AutoCAD, right,
Speaker 2: and we used to I mean, and of course we
Speaker 2: used to have all those drawing exams with the big
Speaker 2: scale and things like that, and we did have structural
Speaker 2: engineering as well. You're bringing back fond memories of my
Speaker 2: college career as well. But at the same time, you know,
Speaker 2: when you look back at your career from where you
Speaker 2: started to where you are right now, I mean, technology
Speaker 2: has made massive strides from you know, what you potentially
Speaker 2: thought could be solved and then of course the problems
Speaker 2: becoming much bigger and bigger. Can you kind of give
Speaker 2: us a rundown on what you did after that to
Speaker 2: what you're doing right now in in arcades?
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: So when I started with my MP program in I T. Bombay,
Speaker 1: one of the parallel things that I was expected to
Speaker 1: do was also to contribute to the research and the
Speaker 1: projects that the professor is undertaking as part of the
Speaker 1: institutional work. So I happened to work on some of
Speaker 1: those projects such as Vali Badrasi Link feasibility studies and
Speaker 1: Western Freeway projects. There were conventional traffic and modeling studies
Speaker 1: forecasting the travel demand and u and which is which
Speaker 1: become the inputs for establishing the feasibility.
Speaker 3: Of large transport infrastructure projects.
Speaker 1: And that has laid the whole foundation for me in
Speaker 1: terms of the conventional travel demand modeling and traffic studies.
Speaker 1: But one of the important things that actually sowed the
Speaker 1: seed at that point in time was the technology side
Speaker 1: of the story, where we had one of the best
Speaker 1: computer labs in the institute after Computer science Engineering, and
Speaker 1: all my friends used to envy us looking at that lab,
Speaker 1: and then we had all the privileges of actually software
Speaker 1: hardware to play around with, and that has also builtn
Speaker 1: a curiosity angle in terms of how we can actually
Speaker 1: leverage the tech.
Speaker 3: From that point of view.
Speaker 1: So then subsequently, after my m tech at id Bombay,
Speaker 1: then I moved on to Tata Consultancy Services, where again
Speaker 1: I was actually part of the management consulting team and
Speaker 1: not the coding team. Because that I was very clear
Speaker 1: one of the carrier transition points. Also, what my professor
Speaker 1: advised me was that not to get into software, but.
Speaker 3: To actually stick to the core and stay through.
Speaker 1: And even when I was actually joining TCS, I was
Speaker 1: actually part of the management consulting team which was involved
Speaker 1: with the transportation projects at that point in time. But
Speaker 1: however those projects were also part of the conventional traffic
Speaker 1: studies and also part of some of those.
Speaker 3: Technology studies as well. Yeah, so while.
Speaker 1: I was actually doing the masters, one of the things
Speaker 1: that also happened was I need to work on parallely
Speaker 1: on a lot of these projects conventional while they are
Speaker 1: actually mostly conventional traffic modeling and traffic podcasting kind of projects.
Speaker 1: I also actually had the opportunity to work in tech
Speaker 1: at that point itself because we actually had one of
Speaker 1: the best computer labs in the institute I TI Bombay
Speaker 1: apart from after only after computer science lab and then
Speaker 1: even my friends you stay and meet a lot. So
Speaker 1: that's where I got a little exposure to technology, which
Speaker 1: also always kept me looped in with technology. And while
Speaker 1: while I was actually doing my masters, I also happened
Speaker 1: to work in some of the flagship projects like on
Speaker 1: Liban RASI Link and Freeway Western Freeway feasibility studies. Post
Speaker 1: my masters, one of the important things also decision points
Speaker 1: that happened was when most of my almost all my
Speaker 1: colleagues were actually getting into software that was the boom
Speaker 1: at that point in time. So my professor actually called
Speaker 1: my and and said, like, you are not going to
Speaker 1: be you need to stay through. And then I and
Speaker 1: he promised me and I showed me that you will
Speaker 1: never ripent.
Speaker 3: On these decisions.
Speaker 1: And so that's one of the good things that actually happened.
Speaker 1: And that one of the other things I also saw
Speaker 1: in my career in my life was also the kind
Speaker 1: of good mentors who had been always guiding me at
Speaker 1: right point in time and helping me take those right
Speaker 1: decisions and sway through some of the challenging times in
Speaker 1: my life. And once that I actually joined TCS. Though
Speaker 1: it was it is known for it tech, but in
Speaker 1: those days they also used to have one specific team
Speaker 1: called management Consulting Team. They used to work on consulting
Speaker 1: and advisory studies. So and I will we were focusing
Speaker 1: more on transportation. And then for almost like three three
Speaker 1: and half years I was actually with TCS where I
Speaker 1: worked on both conventional travel demand modeling and other studies.
Speaker 1: And one of the the Mumbai Metro project that we
Speaker 1: are seeing today was we were the ones who actually
Speaker 1: did the enter by Metro master plan. We did total
Speaker 1: travel demand modeling for the city and then we created
Speaker 1: that master plan and I'm glad to see those projects
Speaker 1: are all now coming to reality. And then at TCS,
Speaker 1: I was also part of some of those tech projects.
Speaker 3: In those days, it used to be called the information technology.
Speaker 1: We studies I STP studies they used to call, and
Speaker 1: we used to be part of those which are associated
Speaker 1: with digital. With those days it is actually called technology
Speaker 1: transit transformation and then today's we call it as a
Speaker 1: digital to work with Peterwd's government bodies and World Bank projects,
Speaker 1: so where we used to actually advise them on how
Speaker 1: the technology transition can which all can be automated, what
Speaker 1: are all the processes that can be automated. So we
Speaker 1: used to work on both business process engineering and then
Speaker 1: the automation side of the story also And one of
Speaker 1: the last projects that I actually worked with them was
Speaker 1: also on the Mundraport automation project, so where I was
Speaker 1: part of the team which was.
Speaker 3: Core Domains as a domain specialist.
Speaker 1: We used to be part of the project where we
Speaker 1: created that Technology transformssion plan and subsequently at that time
Speaker 1: CMS was actually acquired by TCS and then TCS and
Speaker 1: that was the first joint project of.
Speaker 3: CMC and TCS together.
Speaker 1: So that's how we we had our hands and legs
Speaker 1: into technology associated with transportation. So what seats that the
Speaker 1: IT Bombay has laid in terms of not just the
Speaker 1: conventional transportation projects, but they also gave us the training
Speaker 1: on systems side of the story as well, So that
Speaker 1: always kept us in the chase of using technology to
Speaker 1: actually see how we can make the systems better from
Speaker 1: the way as to how they can actually show the outcomes.
Speaker 2: Got it, got it?
Speaker 1: And then I actually from there I moved on to
Speaker 1: Wilba Smith again and I'm a US based MNC where
Speaker 1: I was actually involved in traffic and transportation studies.
Speaker 3: We did a lot of the Metro.
Speaker 1: I was actually involved in some of those Middle East
Speaker 1: projects that they were actually doing for creating the transport plans.
Speaker 3: And then the big change came in when I actually.
Speaker 1: Moved to Bangalore on behalf for joining Gilversmith, but as
Speaker 1: part of one of our studies, I actually got into
Speaker 1: bound into GMR where we were making a presentation to
Speaker 1: them on one of their investment prospective investments bids on
Speaker 1: highway project. And then they liked us so much and
Speaker 1: then especially with me. They actually developed a good rappo
Speaker 1: and then they said like, why don't you join it
Speaker 1: to be part of the team that we are actually
Speaker 1: building And.
Speaker 3: That actually made a big change into career transition.
Speaker 1: That actually happened, and of course GMR I never looked
Speaker 1: back again for ten years. How the time passed and
Speaker 1: then how we got engaged with the technology and the
Speaker 1: operations and traffic studies and all that. And GMA gave
Speaker 1: me a big, good platform to explore my passion in
Speaker 1: terms of what are the seats that were sown while
Speaker 1: I While I studied a lot of its intelligent transport
Speaker 1: systems in I T and then subsequently the kind of
Speaker 1: base work that we did in TCS, so all that
Speaker 1: we were actually able to curate those for infra projects
Speaker 1: in GMR, and I grew a lot both.
Speaker 3: Professionally and as well as career wise.
Speaker 1: I had I had seen a very steep growth in
Speaker 1: GMR and also was able to build a lot of.
Speaker 3: Relationships.
Speaker 1: We made a lot of friends, we made a lot
Speaker 1: of partnerships and into diverse areas. I think it's not
Speaker 1: just only about infra, and actually I remember we were
Speaker 1: also exploring auxiliary revenue models for highways, and then we
Speaker 1: actually had collaboration with HMS Hosts, which actually runs the
Speaker 1: chain of hotels and restaurants and travel accessories across transport
Speaker 1: by airports or roads, and those were wonderful times. And
Speaker 1: we all were also looking with collaborations with international global
Speaker 1: companies and then we get an opportunity to travel. That
Speaker 1: was one of the best things that GMR gave us
Speaker 1: as a platform to go explore, learn and then come
Speaker 1: back and see how we contribute back into the organization
Speaker 1: and the projects.
Speaker 3: So I think that was that was with GMR.
Speaker 1: And then subsequently GMR was actually moving on its operations
Speaker 1: from Lockstock Barrel from Bangalore to Delhi, and that's when
Speaker 1: again the question mark came in because I was I
Speaker 1: wasn't in a more to move away from Bangalore.
Speaker 3: So with my son just got in into got into schooling.
Speaker 1: And and we never wanted to move to Delhi. So
Speaker 1: I tried exploring running between the cities, but it was
Speaker 1: a bit challenging.
Speaker 3: So that's when I said, like, I want to move on.
Speaker 1: So though it was a very one of the very
Speaker 1: very difficult and challenging decisions that I had to take, again,
Speaker 1: I went back to my mentors and then took their
Speaker 1: advice and then accordingly I moved on. And then that's
Speaker 1: when actually I didn't have even a one day break.
Speaker 1: I actually immediately joined a startup in Bangalore called Introwate
Speaker 1: and that's again focused on technology solutions for especially the
Speaker 1: transportation related problems. And there while I worked on by
Speaker 1: already an existing known domain of management systems and traffic
Speaker 1: management systems. One of the interesting things that we also
Speaker 1: designed a solution was to actually for the continent tracking
Speaker 1: project with NEC who were actually tied up with the
Speaker 1: National now we call it as a National Industrial Corridor
Speaker 1: Development Corporation, so for how.
Speaker 3: To improve the ease of doing business right.
Speaker 1: So and this continent tracking container lock up was actually
Speaker 1: causing a big bottleneck for improving the efficiencies in the system.
Speaker 1: So that problem statement has actually was put thrown at
Speaker 1: us as to how we can actually design a system
Speaker 1: which can track. And that's when we designed an r
Speaker 1: fight based container tracking system. And now I'm very happy
Speaker 1: the isihlight that we actually carried out set up and
Speaker 1: made it a success is now going places with all
Speaker 1: the ports connected and the logistic databank is actually being
Speaker 1: built up and it's going very well.
Speaker 3: So I think that's posted that with infrared.
Speaker 1: Then I also subsequently got into IBI, so again there's
Speaker 1: a story behind why I had to come to IBI.
Speaker 1: So me and Deepak were studying together in it Bombay.
Speaker 1: Deepak was part of bachelor's program and then I was
Speaker 1: actually studying my M tech and taking care of computer labs,
Speaker 1: so we bumped into each other more often with his
Speaker 1: guide being common and trying to work on computer lab
Speaker 1: he was. He came back to India during two thousand
Speaker 1: and six and he was trying to set up the
Speaker 1: shop for IBA in India and then that's when we
Speaker 1: again bumped each other at my professor's place.
Speaker 3: And then he said like what are you doing?
Speaker 1: And then GMR was also looking for toll traffic management
Speaker 1: solutions for their highways and then I said, why don't
Speaker 1: we work together?
Speaker 3: So I think that's how we started.
Speaker 1: And fortunately they came on board through a bidding process
Speaker 1: and that's how the collaboration with IBA started and that
Speaker 1: was one of the successful projects that actually happened in
Speaker 1: the industry. So one of the flagship projects, I should
Speaker 1: say in terms of toll and traffic management systems. Along
Speaker 1: gm R highways and when deeper came to know that
Speaker 1: I moved on from GMR and then didn't even tell them,
Speaker 1: so they were also a little taken awack and said
Speaker 1: like we wanted you to be on our side rather
Speaker 1: than going around with other things. But then I have
Speaker 1: already committed here. So that's when the infrawd. When also
Speaker 1: after these projects, there was some sort of a shakeup
Speaker 1: happening in because being a startup is a startup, shake
Speaker 1: ups keep happening. So there was change of ownership that
Speaker 1: was actually happening, and then I said like, okay, no,
Speaker 1: I think it's not something.
Speaker 3: For so then I moved on to IBI. So and it's.
Speaker 1: Eight year, eight year completed, nine year running for me
Speaker 1: again in ib I and two years back after this
Speaker 1: took over, and then this is where we are with
Speaker 1: all the beautiful projects that we're into and that that's
Speaker 1: where yeah, today, I think this is the timeline.
Speaker 2: Incredible. Ven I mean, first of all, I mean i'm
Speaker 2: asked I would say you're lucky. I mean partly you've
Speaker 2: created your luck because you are pursuing your passion right
Speaker 2: from you know, the the school days, if you will,
Speaker 2: right from I t too right now, you know you
Speaker 2: could have fallen preyed, like you said yourself to the
Speaker 2: software boom or you know why do k which was there?
Speaker 2: And you know it didn't matter in India, right, what mechanical,
Speaker 2: what engineer didn't matter. You always became a software engineer, right,
Speaker 2: So good to see that you didn't fall prey to that.
Speaker 2: See you on that. And then I mean, you know
Speaker 2: a lot of impact that you've created along the way,
Speaker 2: which we can probably talk about. So the part I
Speaker 2: want to ask you next, Venkatis. I mean, obviously this
Speaker 2: is a space where you know, twenty years ago you
Speaker 2: don't see the type of I mean much like any
Speaker 2: other industry perhaps, but I mean at what scale do
Speaker 2: you think you know things have changed or innovation has
Speaker 2: come through in your world compared to say the rest
Speaker 2: of the world, right, I mean when you look at
Speaker 2: software or a software engineer if you will, I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, every other month or something, there's a new
Speaker 2: platform coming. I mean you know off laid It is
Speaker 2: AI and things like that. But if you just look
Speaker 2: at it through your lens, you know you said you
Speaker 2: were working on some of the projects in Mumbai even
Speaker 2: when you started out of college too. Right now, I mean,
Speaker 2: how do you see innovation or the disruption happening in
Speaker 2: your world? And then maybe we can pivot to see
Speaker 2: how the technology overlap is happening as well.
Speaker 1: See, I think the transportation we always India always had
Speaker 1: that infrastructure deficit, and that's one of the things that
Speaker 1: was pulling our economy from boom booming. Right But in
Speaker 1: the late nineties, when the infrastructure boom started and the
Speaker 1: focus on infrastructure development and investments started coming in, I
Speaker 1: think the four more focus in this particular sector was
Speaker 1: most on building the basic blocks of actually concrete or
Speaker 1: I should say brick and motor activity because there was
Speaker 1: huge deficit, so the focus was more on building that
Speaker 1: because only when you actually have an infrastructure, that's when
Speaker 1: equality infrastructure, that's when you can actually talk of other things.
Speaker 2: It's more like the backbone of the country.
Speaker 1: The backbone was actually was required, so that was actually
Speaker 1: being done. A lot of the innovation was actually happening,
Speaker 1: I don't say technology, but innovation was happening on material use,
Speaker 1: what type of material that we should actually be using,
Speaker 1: and what top of techniques should be used in making
Speaker 1: it more faster and making it more improving the quality
Speaker 1: of the infrastructure and.
Speaker 3: Those kinds of things.
Speaker 1: So the innovation was more focused on fast tracking the
Speaker 1: work and making sure the quality is actually is better,
Speaker 1: or in terms of how we actually operate that infrastructure
Speaker 1: and maintain that infrastructure focused subsequently, So the.
Speaker 3: Focus was more on those things.
Speaker 1: But late two thousands, I think that's when the importance
Speaker 1: of technology then actually started with the because always we
Speaker 1: actually had the limitation of the space, so we couldn't
Speaker 1: have actually grown the infrastructure at a pace at which
Speaker 1: the vehicle ownerships were actually growing or the transportation volumes
Speaker 1: were actually growing, so whether it's people or the goods
Speaker 1: that we're actually talking about, So that's when the emphasis
Speaker 1: actually came on, how do we manage the infrastructure in
Speaker 1: a much more efficient way to make sure that it
Speaker 1: would cater to the growing needs of the society or
Speaker 1: the economy as a whole. So that's when slowly the
Speaker 1: technology started penetrating into it. But I can always say
Speaker 1: that that has been a slow adoption in this particular industry,
Speaker 1: whether we actually call it as a toll or traffic management,
Speaker 1: or whether signaling systems. Even today you can actually see
Speaker 1: a city like Bangalore today actually out of its five
Speaker 1: hundred plus junctions, we are only talking of an adaptive
Speaker 1: solution traffic management. So in just about a year back
Speaker 1: we started deploying right. Yeah, So the adoption of technology
Speaker 1: has actually been very very slow and uh and uh
Speaker 1: uh primarily driven by the funding constraints that and and
Speaker 1: the and the I should actually say the education or
Speaker 1: understanding of the bureaucracy uh side of the story. So
Speaker 1: there like for example Stranache and he understands technology and
Speaker 1: its importance and then he's driving it saying that yes,
Speaker 1: we need to drive you capitalize the potential of technology
Speaker 1: while we continue to do what we're doing. Right, So
Speaker 1: that particular aspect was also missing. And with with the
Speaker 1: new age bureaucrats coming in, that passion for using technology
Speaker 1: is also growing. And then once the best part about
Speaker 1: India is that once it only takes a time for
Speaker 1: it to adopted. Once they adopted, the scale of the
Speaker 1: speed of adoption is like a yeah, yes.
Speaker 3: It's like autistics.
Speaker 1: So that's how we've actually seen even whether we talk
Speaker 1: about fast tag RFDI bays, fast tag tolling and I
Speaker 1: remember in GMR we were the first to actually use
Speaker 1: RFID to solve one of our burning problems of buses
Speaker 1: not being paid. So we need to track how many
Speaker 1: buses were going through which were not paying. So we said,
Speaker 1: like we will use RFIs the technology for tracking, and
Speaker 1: then that becomes a basis for tolling.
Speaker 3: We never imagine. And then that adoption of RAFID was
Speaker 3: was a game changer.
Speaker 1: With Nonlekani Committee recommendations and then adoption of that and
Speaker 1: then with the push that the government gave in the
Speaker 1: recent past were it actually transitioned from fifteen percent penetration
Speaker 1: to a ninety eight percent penetration. It's beautiful and it's amazing.
Speaker 1: And technology adoption in India has been at a very
Speaker 1: fast pace. So that's how it has actually happened. In
Speaker 1: the transportation, the ITS we actually call it the Intelligent
Speaker 1: Transport systems for the technology side of the whole story
Speaker 1: of transportation. The adopt the growth of ITS has actually
Speaker 1: been in the last one decade, I should say it
Speaker 1: has actually grown substantially and with the growth of the industry,
Speaker 1: especially the hardware side, whether it call it the cameras
Speaker 1: or scanners or radars or R readers. So although adoption
Speaker 1: has actually started growing up and every department is actually
Speaker 1: thinking of how they can actually capitalize or how they
Speaker 1: can actually adopt technology to improve their operational efficiencies.
Speaker 2: It thank you for that. I mean, one of the
Speaker 2: points you mentioned was going to be my next pivot.
Speaker 2: So you mentioned bureaucracy. Obviously that that comes in because
Speaker 2: I mean, in your world, you I mean, you cannot
Speaker 2: avoid the fact that you have to work with the
Speaker 2: public sector, the government, and it's a massive collaboration for
Speaker 2: everything to come to light. Right, So how would you
Speaker 2: say that has kind of evolved over the years. I mean,
Speaker 2: obviously to your point, you know, in the late nineteen
Speaker 2: nineties and in the last ten years, I mean, the
Speaker 2: infrastructure boom. You can visibly see it, right, whether it's
Speaker 2: the airports or as they call it, the whole Golden
Speaker 2: Quadilateral in terms of you know, all the highways and
Speaker 2: the more highways coming up, or the different city metros
Speaker 2: that are coming up and things like that. So there
Speaker 2: needs to be a really good balance between collaborating with
Speaker 2: the government officials, right, and your private sector to make
Speaker 2: all these projects to come to life. I mean, so
Speaker 2: any thought, son, you know how that has kind of
Speaker 2: gotten better over the years, making your life simple. Any
Speaker 2: any taught viewpoints from your side banker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So again I should say I've been a bit
Speaker 1: lucky to having worked with some of the best bureaucrats
Speaker 1: in the country. While while my I started my career
Speaker 1: with tel Traffic Comprehensive Traffic Transportation Study, and then the
Speaker 1: bureaucrats whom I worked with at that point in time
Speaker 1: were so visionary and at that point and time they
Speaker 1: were talking of how always aligning, not focusing more on
Speaker 1: technology alone, but then focusing on how to solve the
Speaker 1: problem at large, how to actually make transportation and accessible
Speaker 1: to people, and how to leverage transportation to to make
Speaker 1: it the economic engine work right. So that was the
Speaker 1: vision that that that's the kind of vision that they
Speaker 1: actually had in those days, right. And then slowly when
Speaker 1: even when I actually worked with say the r fighting
Speaker 1: the kind of projects that we I talked about and
Speaker 1: whether in TCAs or whether infrawate.
Speaker 3: Or in GMR.
Speaker 1: So the best part was while they're understanding on technology
Speaker 1: or deep depth was actually not much, but then they
Speaker 1: all felt the need for the technology to be there,
Speaker 1: to actually be leveraged to fast track or to make
Speaker 1: sure the problem solving happens in a better way, right
Speaker 1: and and the most innovative way. So I think while
Speaker 1: while I say this, I also have encountered a couple
Speaker 1: of bureaucrats who who's lack of understanding or knowledge of technology,
Speaker 1: they were actually trying to shy away and then keep
Speaker 1: the technology away from there.
Speaker 3: They pushed back.
Speaker 1: Whenever you go go and then try to discuss some
Speaker 1: technology intervention which can actually make things better, they say no, no, no, no, please,
Speaker 1: don't disturb the way is working, and then you continue
Speaker 1: to do what you're doing. Yeah, so I had, well,
Speaker 1: you have both sides, but I can always say that
Speaker 1: the ones who are actually more forthcoming and adopting technology
Speaker 1: is almost like on a majority today. So and that's
Speaker 1: why where you can actually see this kind of a
Speaker 1: boom and India becoming a digital force as well in
Speaker 1: the globe. So so I think that that's where the
Speaker 1: whole story is.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I mean, again, based on what you're saying,
Speaker 2: I think I feel like it's in a much better
Speaker 2: place than what it was, you know, maybe a decade
Speaker 2: ago or a couple of decades ago. And that's a
Speaker 2: testament to the progress that's been made as well. Right,
Speaker 2: So being in Bangal or a venkt, I mean you obviously,
Speaker 2: I mean Bangler calls itself the silicon value of India
Speaker 2: or the Silicon value of the East. I mean with
Speaker 2: the number of startups, a number of people moving there,
Speaker 2: you know, all the VC funds there and things like
Speaker 2: that I've seen in the press as well. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, in your current role in arcadis Ibi, you
Speaker 2: do partner with startups, right, I mean you can obviously
Speaker 2: innovate internally in your role, but at the same time,
Speaker 2: I mean you know, in a startup world, I mean
Speaker 2: you know, those ideas move fast, and there is a
Speaker 2: plenty of opportunity for you to collaborate with some of
Speaker 2: those best to breed solutions as well. Right, So how
Speaker 2: do you go about picking and choosing what you build
Speaker 2: internally within your team and these are the opportunities for
Speaker 2: you to collaborate with a startup or collaborate with another partner,
Speaker 2: how do you make those decisions?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 1: Yeah, see, one of the one of the fundamental principles
Speaker 1: that you all believed in and was always to actually
Speaker 1: make sure that we are collaborating both with our customers
Speaker 1: and also with with our partners. And OEMs and startups,
Speaker 1: so we very well know that not everything can be
Speaker 1: done by ourselves, even if we would want to develop
Speaker 1: that particular competency. Also, we always have that decision making
Speaker 1: is in terms of how efficient it is for us
Speaker 1: to and whether to do it internally or whether we
Speaker 1: actually collaborate with someone else.
Speaker 3: Right, So, our our.
Speaker 1: Main strength is our domain expertise and our ability to
Speaker 1: actually curate solution, right. So that's that's our strengths as
Speaker 1: the team, whether it's haartred Is or whether it in
Speaker 1: tc IS or wherever we were actually working our our
Speaker 1: that that's the core strength that we used to look
Speaker 1: at and especially now when we're working as archad is
Speaker 1: when we're trying to build this solution of AST or
Speaker 1: whether that traffic management solution adaptive signaling system, or whether
Speaker 1: we are working in other mining ORISA mining corporation projects
Speaker 1: that we that we delivered our traffic management on highways
Speaker 1: that we are actually working on everywhere. I think our
Speaker 1: strength is actually is curating a solution to solve the problem,
Speaker 1: right and what ingredients make that solution work. We are
Speaker 1: not we want to actually collaborate with the external world,
Speaker 1: and that's where we actually have looked at as the
Speaker 1: best thing that could actually happen is if the best
Speaker 1: comes in yeah, right, and then when you stitch this
Speaker 1: thing together, and and if you're able to focus more
Speaker 1: on problem solving, on our own core strength, because we
Speaker 1: believe that when it's not my strength, I.
Speaker 3: Don't need to.
Speaker 1: Start building that and I can liberate on someone else's strength.
Speaker 1: And who's that's the core of someone else? Right, So
Speaker 1: keep you keep stick to your core, and then bring
Speaker 1: the core of others, uh to build the solution and
Speaker 1: then make it happen.
Speaker 2: I think that's perfect well said, Yeah, well said. And
Speaker 2: that's a great approach. I mean, and I will stand
Speaker 2: the test of time as well. Right, So that's awesome.
Speaker 2: So everybody, uh, you know these days uses some bit
Speaker 2: of AI, or at least trying to use some bit
Speaker 2: of AI. How has AI impacted your world? In the world,
Speaker 2: if say, transportation systems or everything else the plateau of
Speaker 2: things that arkadis Ibi does.
Speaker 1: Today, No doubt, I think a A has has a
Speaker 1: great potential. I think it's it's one of the biggest
Speaker 1: disruptions that could actually be as our generation could have
Speaker 1: actually seen. And I see transportation getting benefited with AI
Speaker 1: a lot. But the point here is I think what
Speaker 1: I'm seeing and is about the more of an abuse
Speaker 1: of the word AI then and better use So I
Speaker 1: actually feel like I think it's important.
Speaker 3: That we have.
Speaker 1: Use cases built and developed, and a lot of startups
Speaker 1: are actually coming in in this space as well, and
Speaker 1: we should we should actually be able to leverage those
Speaker 1: startups and collaborations with Academy. I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the important things that we need to look at when
Speaker 1: we're actually focusing on these AI and deep tech collaborations.
Speaker 3: So, coming to your point.
Speaker 1: Of impact of AI, I see AI playing a major
Speaker 1: role in every uh, every transportation segment, and not only
Speaker 1: in the transportation set, but also in every stage of.
Speaker 3: The life cycle of the transportation project.
Speaker 1: Right whether it's actually playing a big role in design,
Speaker 1: it's playing a big role in development, or in terms
Speaker 1: of construction stage, it's going to play a big role
Speaker 1: in operations.
Speaker 3: And maintenance as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So at all the phases, I actually see AI
Speaker 1: having a big role to play. And apart from that,
Speaker 1: even the digital twin I would like to bring that
Speaker 1: also into play that that also is going to be
Speaker 1: one of the big things that that's going to disrupt
Speaker 1: the industry.
Speaker 2: You can simulate almost anything and everything, and yeah, yeah, perfect.
Speaker 2: So record, we've come to a section which we're going
Speaker 2: to call the they'll say question, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: ask you five questions and you can give a super
Speaker 2: short answer and we can move on to the next question.
Speaker 2: If you'd like to elaborate, feel free. So you already,
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I know the answer to the
Speaker 2: first question. I'm going to ask you who's your role
Speaker 2: model or your inspiration. I think you're going to say
Speaker 2: somebody from your I T days, But if it's not,
Speaker 2: that's okay. But any any inspiration you have in your
Speaker 2: career venkor Yeah, I think one of.
Speaker 1: The great inspirations that I actually had. Of course processing
Speaker 1: there has always been my mentor and he has guided
Speaker 1: me although and he continues to guide me.
Speaker 3: So from a professional point of view, I actually take.
Speaker 1: Mister Streeter and as as a role model in terms
Speaker 1: of as a karma yogi what what we called him,
Speaker 1: and the kind of contributions that he has become a
Speaker 1: metro man having a single minded focus of actually solving
Speaker 1: the problem in terms of and making sure building an
Speaker 1: institution which actually lasts longer and beyond beyond an individual
Speaker 1: and beyond a time. Right, So I think that's where
Speaker 1: I admire him. And he's professionally, he's my role model.
Speaker 1: I always looked upon to his life to draw some
Speaker 1: lessons for myself.
Speaker 2: That is great. So the next one is any favorite
Speaker 2: book or a documentary that you have that you keep
Speaker 2: going back to for inspiration.
Speaker 3: I again here, I have two points. I always been.
Speaker 1: Reading from my childhood days right from my and then
Speaker 1: more than I don't see it as a religious book,
Speaker 1: but as a as a text which actually has always
Speaker 1: inspired me every time I read something, and then it
Speaker 1: actually contextualizes and gives me solution. While I see this
Speaker 1: as a as a book that I can actually go
Speaker 1: back all the times on a contemporary And I happened
Speaker 1: to read the book called The Professional based Brother Bakshi
Speaker 1: uh And and I really admire that book and I
Speaker 1: enjoy that book. And that's one book that i've actually
Speaker 1: i'm not and I give that to as many of them,
Speaker 1: both to my customers and to my team members all
Speaker 1: the times. And that's been one of the wonderful books
Speaker 1: that I've read and have candidly expressed a lot of
Speaker 1: those dilemmas that a professional would actually come across in
Speaker 1: his or her careers and then provide some best guidance.
Speaker 2: So thank you. I've not read that book myself, so
Speaker 2: I will I will look.
Speaker 3: Probably I would give.
Speaker 2: Let me see next. So on the same lines as
Speaker 2: the first two. I mean, what's what's the I mean say,
Speaker 2: I would say you obviously get advice, But I mean
Speaker 2: if somebody day one in their careers or year one
Speaker 2: in their careers, creditor, respective of which career they are in,
Speaker 2: what is one piece of advice you would give them.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things that I keep I
Speaker 1: keep telling the youth and young whenever I go to
Speaker 1: colleges and other places.
Speaker 3: Is actually to be staying socially relevant.
Speaker 1: So in whichever the tech, whichever the domain that you are,
Speaker 1: I think what is important is to actually stay socially
Speaker 1: and relevant because that's what is going to stay forever.
Speaker 3: I think, whether you are.
Speaker 1: Solving a community problem, or a transportation problem, or a
Speaker 1: climate problem or whatsoever, I think, as long as you
Speaker 1: are actually solving and staying relevant socially and trying to
Speaker 1: solve the problem of a community. So that's where I
Speaker 1: think we will have a long way to go and
Speaker 1: we will be sustainable for a longer period of time,
Speaker 1: and that would actually help you to build a career
Speaker 1: for oneself.
Speaker 3: I think that advice that I would like.
Speaker 2: To keep, yeah, beautifully said. And in your career, I mean,
Speaker 2: you've obviously achieved a lot of things already. There's a
Speaker 2: one many more great things ahead if you want. But
Speaker 2: I mean, what's if you were to point out one
Speaker 2: thing that you're super proud of in your career, any
Speaker 2: anything that comes to mind.
Speaker 1: So as as I told you so one of the
Speaker 1: I think there are there are many to that point,
Speaker 1: and I've always released a lot of these good things
Speaker 1: that we were actually doing, uh primarily when when we
Speaker 1: actually started exploring RFID technology per safe for solving the
Speaker 1: bush tolling problem. So that actually I felt one of
Speaker 1: the biggest breakthroughs that we actually had to actually how
Speaker 1: to leverage technology. And same way, I think I would
Speaker 1: also want to add the current Astrum project that we
Speaker 1: were actually delivering to Bangalo Traffic Police, actionable intelligence for
Speaker 1: sustainable traffic management. I think that is one of the
Speaker 1: things that I feel I will be very if you
Speaker 1: ask me this question.
Speaker 2: You're basically projecting it for the future.
Speaker 1: Yes, it is one of the breakthroughs that that that
Speaker 1: I would be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I could see that myself too, because I mean
Speaker 2: that is such a complex project. I mean, you know
Speaker 2: the amount of scaling.
Speaker 1: Problem like a traffic condition problem in a city like Bangalow.
Speaker 1: I always tell that I don't think well be able
Speaker 1: to solve with a click or with but it's only
Speaker 1: through a strong collaboration and everybody's involvement and engagement is
Speaker 1: what is very important. And that's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why we are also trying to see how to engage
Speaker 1: community into this initiative and want to make this from
Speaker 1: a We have transitioned that slowly from a project to
Speaker 1: a program. Now from program to a mission. So that's
Speaker 1: how we are actually looking as should become a mission.
Speaker 1: Uh leave a part of the name whatever that name
Speaker 1: is the thing a strategic weapon that we were trying
Speaker 1: to create for us to solve the problem in the
Speaker 1: hands of empowering the traffic police.
Speaker 2: So so thanks thanks Francott. I mean I must say
Speaker 2: every time I come to Bangalore and stop it as
Speaker 2: a traffic signal and I look at the signal and
Speaker 2: wait there. I always think it's you, you know, thinking that.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're doing something to play a big role
Speaker 2: via arcade IS and work with the Bangloor Traffic Police
Speaker 2: to complex all those solved problems with AI and all
Speaker 2: the new technology that you're bringing in. So I learned
Speaker 2: a ton today, Venkott. I mean, I'm going to look
Speaker 2: up the book and your inspiration and all of that.
Speaker 2: It's it's a great learning for me to learn more
Speaker 2: about you and your journey. So thanks so much for
Speaker 2: taking the time today, Vankored. I mean, I'm sure we'll
Speaker 2: meet up in person soon, but for my audience here,
Speaker 2: thank you for taking the time.
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, Anthony. And then it was pleasure talking
Speaker 1: to you. I think you've made me to time travel
Speaker 1: back and having some pleasant memories from my life. So
Speaker 1: thanks for that time. And then I hope you've got
Speaker 1: what you wanted from the Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, you know, this is this is what
Speaker 2: this podcast is all about, you know, learning from people
Speaker 2: like you and uh, you know, try to replicate some
Speaker 2: of your learning. So thanks so much, Ncer, take care,
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much.