The ongoing Pandemic has badly battered the economy. Does infrastructure hold the key to revive the Indian economy? Your views
We are keeping a resilient approach while keenly observing the evolving data and recovery trends. We are focusing on adhering to pandemic guidelines at every touch point. We have recently concluded a vaccination drive for employees to ensure their safety. We are adhering to all the government guidelines, health and safety protocols while being alert about the emerging risks of the next wave of the pandemic. According to the latest survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India’s economy is expected to see a quicker recovery from the impact of the second wave of the pandemic. The Infrastructure Sector holds the key to revive the Indian economy, it is all set to play a key role in the revival process. There are already a few green shoots like power demand, infrastructure and manufacturing activity picking up. With private investment, consumption-led demand and exports showing positive trends, the thrust to revive growth would have to come from government-driven expenditure. Building future-ready, intelligent, resilient and sustainable infrastructure could help restart capital goods production, provide employment and revive private sector confidence.
How is the market of security and surveillance equipment? How has your organization preformed in the last three years – Pre-Covid-19, In Covid-19 and Post-Covid-19?
The security and surveillance market is briskly recouping from the pandemic impact and it’s far reaching implications. Our organization has grown at a good growth rate during the pre- pandemic phase. We followed the government guidelines, focused on compliance among our employees and workers. During the pandemic period, the lockdown and supply chain disruptions stunted the ongoing growth. We ensured that our employees and workers were safe. We took appropriate steps to ensure that our manufacturing facility, distribution network and employees are safe and secure. We implemented the best practices to provide protection to all the employees and workers. We tried our level best to minimize the supply chain disruptions.
We had remained optimistic and resilient through the first six months of 2021. We have striven hard to maintain normalcy of business operations, supply chains and manufacturing output to meet the demand. After painstaking efforts the results are now showing up. The security industry is slowly and gradually returning to its normalcy. The confidence of the security market and the entire ecosystem is returning to bring the businessback to pre-pandemic level. With the increased adoption of new, more advanced technologies, and a potential end to the coronavirus pandemic in sight, we expect the security market to bounce back with positive sentiments and new growth prospects.
While continuing with our fight against the pandemic, Hikvision India has organised a vaccination drive in two phases for employees, workers and their family members, the first doses of vaccination were given to them on 20th June and 26th June. In these two phases a total number of 700+ employees, workers and their family members got vaccinated. The vaccination drive for employees and their family members was organised by Hikvision India to support them in providing protection from the pandemic. Apart from conducting a vaccination drive for employees, workers and their families. The company has delivered 100 Oxygen Concentrators to the applicants across India as a part of its welfare initiative. The purpose behind this vaccination drive was to make sure that our employees and their family members get vaccinated with utmost care. We stand firmly with our employees and partners in these testing times by providing free Vaccination and oxygen concentrators through thiswelfare initiative. We are grateful to our partners and end-users for their consistent support and unshakable trust. We are hopeful that security market will get back to its peak performance level. Though the pandemic situation had created a major challenge for the security industry, but a resilient approach has helped us to win over the odds. Going forward, we envision a better growth phase for next generation video security cameras with advanced features and technologies in the near future. We are upbeat about the growth prospects and emerging opportunities that are evolving in the Indian security solutions market. In the next three years security industry will see the highest growth due to various factors at play, we are aligning our targets with these new opportunities by ramping up the manufacturing plant for production.
How are you adapting to the ‘New Normal’?
We have been adapting the best practices, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and government guidelines issues from time to time. If there’s one thing we’ve all learned from the pandemic, it’s that all bets are off: everyone is learning to adapt to changes that are happening in real-time almost daily. This has major implications for managers, employees and key stakeholders alike. Much more than a disruption, the pandemic is enforcing a new reality. Beyond the heavy toll on lives, families and businesses, this pandemic will leave a lasting mark on what we value and care about, and how we interact with one another in our communities, what all needs to be protect people, jobs, livelihood, businesses, how we can secure the lives of families and communities. The long-term impact on business will also be profound. To succeed in the next normal, enterprises has the opportunity to revive and reinvent their businesses and revenue model. Achieve resiliency in operations to meet the immediate needs of customers, associates and other stakeholders. Adjust the strategic plans, operations, and financials for successful near-term recovery. Reimagine services and uncover innovation by understanding the post-pandemic business dynamics within the security industry and its implications across the verticals. We need to focus on the future roadmap that can help us to emerge stronger from the pandemic crisis.
What are your views on the need to adapt and remold the infra activities as per the New Normal to spur the economy?
The infrastructure sector is the cornerstone of the country’s economy. Being one of the most resilient sectors, it plays a crucial role in accelerating India’s overall development, thereby driving its economic growth. Increased government spending on more extensive scale projects offers strength to India’s competitiveness across the globe. As per Indian Infrastructure Sector in India Industry Report, India has plans to spend US$ 1.4 trillion on infrastructure till the year 2023. This is the largest investment allocated ever for the infrastructure development, it expected to boost the expansive growth of the sector. The Indian infrastructure sector has always shown remarkable growth even during a crucial time like the pandemic. Also, during the unlock process of the lockdown, infrastructure and construction was the first economic activity to resume in the country. Clean energy and green initiatives for infrastructure development have given a much-needed push to the sector’s growth. Furthermore, the integration of the latest technology and the concept of building smart cities is continuously contributing to futuristic infrastructure developments in the country.
How can the government handhold the security and surveillance sector in this Pandemic time?
The pandemic has transformed how we think about our economies, enterprises and societies. The policy choices governments make today will determine their success in building a transition to a secure, more inclusive and more resilient tomorrow. The government policies can provide an opportunity to chart a path that empowers everyone to face the future with confidence. The Government has launched various schemes to help and support the MSME sector. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes can boost the spirit of security and surveillance industry, if they are planned and implemented while addressing the core issues.
The Pandemic has further expedited technologic advancement such as minimum human intervention, minimum contact, and maintaining safe distance. In tune with the Covid-19 protocol what are the security and surveillance equipment you have launched?
The pandemic was a black swan event in the history of Indian security industry. After a decade of robust growth security industry faced the downturn for the first time. The disruptions had an adverse impact on the entire security ecosystem of channel partners, dealers, distributors and system integrators. It led to a multitude of security challenges for security industry stakeholders with temporary supply chain issues. The security industry has followed a resilient approach while pursuing a cautious strategy to counter the impact with technologies, innovations and customised solutions. The Indian security industry has shown extraordinary resilience, and it is slowly and gradually bouncing back to normalcy. Despite the disruptions and downturn, the pandemic has also created demand for new solutions to help control the impact of a pandemic and support the cause of public safety. We have lived up to the challenge of pandemic crisis by doing extensive research and development to offer public safety solutions (temperature screening, face mask wearing alerts, social distancing and flow control solutions). We were one of the first movers in the industry to offer temperature screening solutions. Despite all the disruptions caused by the pandemic, hope floats and resilient spirits persist, the Indian security market is still confident of the industry’s robustness and prospects for growth.
The new normal scenario has created a high demand for applications based on AI and thermal technology to meet health and public safety challenges. Hikvision India has come up with an impressive line-up of solutions. To ensure health, safety and wellbeing of all the stakeholders across the verticals, Hikvision India offers a Temperature Screening Solution, a Flow Management Solution and a Social Distancing Solution. These Health and Safety Monitoring Solutions are designed to help Safe Reopening of all sectors across India. Moreover, they are also instrumental in ensuring strict compliance of the government’s public safety guidelines.
How do you see the economy, opportunities and challenges in this pandemic situation and please give us a brief idea about the strategies outlined to tap in the future potentials?
The pandemic has caused a paradigm shift in the economy, technology trends and people’s mindset. When the entire world and humanity is fighting a war against the pandemic and trying to overcome the devastating impact of the second wave, we are setting up a new agenda for the future and acting up on it for the growth of the security industry with a profound human approach. It was a great learning experience for all of us to go through the various phases of pandemic challenges and recovery. We have the resilience and innovative marketing strategies on our side to communicate and engage the target audience in a simple and effective manner. We are implementing a series of digital transformation initiatives to keep our customers engaged and satisfied. The work is in progress, as we are consistently working on the ‘Make-in-India’ expansion plan and future roadmap. Apart from various marketing strategies the cornerstone of our growth strategy has remained Customer Centricity. As a responsible Indian corporate organization we are putting our best efforts and commitment towards Digital India, Skill India and Make-in–India programs to support the government initiatives. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Vasai near Mumbai is a shining example of our long term commitment towards ‘Make-in-India’ vision. We have made a big ticket investment to expand the manufacturing facility.
Hikvision India has partnered with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer security technology training for India’s youth. The company is providing security and video surveillance products and technology related training and certification programs HCSA and HCSP by collaborating with the Skill India program of NSDC. This partnership will help in creating a security industry specific skills and ecosystem development, which will further prepare India’s technical workforce for getting jobs or setting up their own business enterprises.
