Our AI-powered software solutions help authorities effectively manage crowds during major events

Crowd management has increasingly become important across India as many cases of mismanagement had led to fatal incidences. Technology service providers have come up with solutions that can not only gauge crowd gathering but also can provide real time assessment for managing crowd.

Moreover, artificial intelligence (AI) is making smart solutions and providing predictive solutions for crowd management. Vehant Technologies is one such tech firm, which is considered as one of the pioneers in the field. Set up two decades back and incubated by IIT Delhi, Vedant Technologies have come up with many India’s first tech-powered solutions, related to security & surveillance, crowd management, airport security & related fields.

In a conversation with the Bizz Buzz, Shailendra Singh, VP & Business Unit Head of Safe and Smart City & Enterprise Business at Vehant Technologies, said that the company has successfully deployed its solutions across several critical locations. For instance, its solutions are being used by 95 airports in India for baggage scanning and other related matters.

Similarly, the company has successfully deployed its solutions at Maha Kumbh Mela held this year. He said that the company is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in all its solutions and platforms, making those solutions smart. The Noida-headquartered company is a big participant in smart city projects with its solutions deployed in around 80 smart city projects across the country

Can you provide a brief overview about the operations of Vehant Technologies?

We are a 20-year old company. It was incubated at IIT Delhi by two of our cofounders and five of the professors of IIT Delhi. The company started with a new subject in the industry, which was under-vehicle scanning system.

The solution is able to detect any foreign object, which can be hidden below the vehicle. So, the company started with computer vision technology from the very beginning. After getting success with clients, we developed automatic number reading technology.

That was the first indigenous technology across India. Then we entered into the surveillance technology. Currently, we are providing surveillance services to several smart city projects across the country. Out of 100, we are currently providing surveillance services in 80 smart city projects. At the same time, we have got X-Ray baggage scanners, which one can see in the airports.

Currently, our services in baggage scanning are being used in 95 airports in India. So, altogether, our company has got three different business units.

One is focussed on premises surveillance and security system, where the premise security is ensured within a defined area. In this space, we have unique proprietary technology, that has been developed in collaboration with IIT Mumbai. This is India’s first technology solution in this aspect.

Another business unit is aviation, which is entirely focussed on airport security. Another unit is focussed on smart, safe and enterprise business. Here, we do all kinds of traffic enforcement system, have an eye on incidences on the road, and related areas. In this unit, lot many AI-powered solutions are leveraged.

Through our AI-powered platforms, we undertake several activities like crowd detection, personal movement detection and garbage detection, loitering, and others. One of the biggest feats of our company is that our platforms had been deployed in Maha Kumbh Mela.

The complete AI system was deployed by us in association with our master system integration partner. We are also associated with the Dwarka Expressway project. We are at a leading position in the areas we operate in.

The company is headquartered in Noida and we have 10 branches across various states. We are executing projects across the length and breadth of our country. As far as our overseas presence is concerned, our software solutions are being used in 22 different countries across the globe.

So, the company is leveraging AI in all its solutions and platforms. Is that the right understanding? Also, can you give some views about crowd management done by your solution?

We are leveraging AI and other emerging technologies across our solutions. We are using latest AI-powered GPUs in our solutions & services. Crowd management is one of the key areas, in which our software solutions have a proven record.

Currently, our solutions are deployed in Tiruvannamalai Maha Deepam festival for management of crowd. Our AI-powered system helps authorities through providing real-time intelligence. Our system helps in knowing what is the crowd level at a particular space against the designated capacity. Through our people flow analytics solution, it can be gauged that how many people are coming in per minute and how many people are moving out.

This can be done in any timeframe like 5 minutes or 30 minutes or 1 hour. Based on this data, prediction can be done about people flow, which are very critical in crowd management.

If X number of people are coming in and Y number of people are moving out and if X greater is than Y, then the police department can restrict the flow to the designated place by stopping the movement of people at various checkposts. Our algorithm has been written in a way that helps in giving predictions with the help of analytics.

Can you throw some light on the aspect of company’s revenue model? Do you charge clients as a SaaS service provider?

Currently, we are not charging clients as subscription. We provide perpetual licence to clients. Currently, SaaS model is not prevalent in the area, we operate in.

In coming years, it is likely to be the main model but it is not right now. As far as deal sizes are concerned, there is not a fixed size. It will vary from engagement to engagement.

How is the data from client projects handled? Do you store those data or clients have complete control? Can you throw some light on this aspect?

Cloud storage of all the projects is stored in data centres that are owned by the clients. I can say that all the data is stored in a secure environment and all the security measures are being taken by them. So, the data is secure.

We don't keep anything with us. We provide the perpetual software licences. We deploy, we maintain, we support, and everything belongs to the client.

Are you a profitable company? Will you look at going public in coming years?

Yes, we are a profitable company. We are making sound profits. As far as future plan is concerned, we may look at going public in coming years.

However, we don’t have any plans as of now. We are focussed on growing our business across verticals and come up with new innovations, leveraging AI and other emerging technologies.