A family business that grew into a multi-crore solar brand

Delhi-based ex-engineering professor BK Mohanka realised the potential of the solar segment early on and incorporated Gautam Solar in 1997.

Saturday August 28, 2021 , 3 min Read

With climate change posing a global challenge, the reliance on renewable sources of energy has never been higher.

Delhi-based ex-engineering professor BK Mohanka realised the potential of the solar segment early on and incorporated Gautam Solar in 1997.

Since then, the founder’s son, Gautam Mohanka, and various other family members joined the company and worked to take it from a company with Rs 1 crore turnover in 2002 to Rs 200 crore turnover in 2020.

The family business today manufactures a range of solar products, including panels, pumps, lights, fans, batteries, and more. Various government organisations, corporate companies, and individual buyers form its customer base, which it services from its four Haridwar-based factories of 250 MW capacity in total.

Read all about how the Indian startup ecosystem is battling the second wave of COVID-19 here.

Here are some useful tools to help you find the nearest vaccine centres in real-time.

You can also share a tribute to COVID-19 warriors, saviours, and survivors here.

The Interview

Healthcare has become one of India's largest sectors, both in terms of employment and revenue. It's a sector where AI/ML can be utilised to improve customer experience and extract insights from medical documents.

AWS experts Kousik Rajendran and Arun Kumar Lokanatha deep dive into the use cases where AI/ML services and solutions can be utilised.

Editor’s Pick: Udhyam Vyapaar

Former Flipkart exec Mekin Maheshwari realised that many entrepreneurs spend a large chunk of their time in field operations, rather than thinking about growth.

An NGO and community welfare arm of the Udhyam Learning Foundation, Udhyam Vyapaar works with nano-entrepreneurs to maximise their potential, create an entrepreneurial mindset, and empower them with interventions and products to scale their business. Read more.

Startup Spotlight

Disrupting SME lending with AI

While there are 60 million SMEs in India, only 35-40 percent get access to any kind of formal credit. This is what led Gaurav Anand and Lucas Bianchi to solve the fundamental problem of access.

In 2014, they started Namaste Credit as a platform that is a blend of a B2B loan marketplace (for SMEs) and an AI-based credit underwriting engine (for lenders). Read more.

News & Updates

The Cuban government said it will recognise and regulate cryptocurrencies for payments in the nation. According to reports, a resolution was published in the country's Official Gazette, which stated that the Central Bank will set rules for cryptocurrencies and determine how to licence providers of related services within the nation.

PhonePe said it is processing almost 1.5 billion transactions a month, and about 80 percent of its users are from Tier-II cities and beyond.

indiagold, a gold-focused digital alternative credit platform, is raising $12 million in funding led by PayU and Alpha Wave Incubation Fund. It will use the funds to scale the business and roll out operations nationally.