Nilima Nanotechnologies: How the will to startup can outshine all other challenges

In 2009, Nirav Kothari returned to India armed with a degree in nanotechnology from RMIT University, Australia and a yearning to start something on his own. His passions lay in the area of surface protecting nanotechnology, which was hitherto unexploited in India. It was a tough call, but Nirav ventured into the industry with a personal investment of Rs 50,000. This was a measly investment for a sector where cost of equipments runs into lakhs of rupees. But from humble beginnings in 2011, Nilima Nanotechnologies (named after Nirav’s mother who passed away due to a brain aneurism in 2009 and was a catalyst in Nirav’s homecoming) has today come a long way, and now serves clients of international repute.

Talking about his decision to bootstrap in such a capital intensive sector, Nirav says: “Bootstrapping was essential with this idea. Nanotechnology in India is largely an unknown territory. Cost of machinery generally runs into lakhs and it wasn’t worth the risk to begin purchasing machinery before assessing the market.”

Nilima Nanotech started off with contract manufacturing their coatings, which is a proven method of manufacture even for large FMCG companies. Given the product potential, Nirav was certain it would be a success. However educating clients about these virtually unknown products was easier said than done, but eventually after a year of sampling and testing their efforts paid off, and the startup started receiving several high-volume orders from across a wide cross-section of industries. In hindsight the move to bootstrap backed with some solid execution worked in their favour.

The startup currently has its headoffice based in Mumbai and a manufacturing plant on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. Sol gels and nano-zeolites are Nilima Nanotech’s forte who produce surface protectants for a wide range of substances like textile, wood, glass, stone, ceramic and metal. The advantages of having a nano coating includes increased longevity and the decreased need of replacement. Coated surfaces stay protected for around 3 to 10 years. They are also working on another neo-zeolite based coating, which is popular among white-good manufacturers to protect electrical appliances from moisture.

Always on the lookout for new opportunities, Nilima Nanotech is now looking at street lamps in Mumbai for a coating contract. This product would protect them from Mumbai’s torrential rains ensuring smooth functioning throughout. They are in talks with the the local municipal corporation for the same. They also produce an antimicrobial nano silver powder that has a wide range of applications in the medical equipment sector.

Nilima Nanotechnologies aims at harnessing the power of nano technology and bringing it to the masses. Their roster of client whom they are currently working include Pidilite, Eureka Forbes, Hindustan Unilever, BMW-Rolls Royce (Navnit Motors) and Mercedes Benz (Auto Hangar).They also have a distributor based in Melbourne for the entire Australia-New Zealand region, a distributor in Saudi Arabia, South Africa-Botswana, Peru and are in talks to identify distributors soon in Sweden, Malaysia and USA.

Website: Nilima Nanotech