Maruti Suzuki embraces innovation for future-ready mobility, says company's digital enterprise head

At Maruti Suzuki, a significant shift is happening towards innovation and exploration, including collaboration with startups, Tapan Sahoo, Executive Officer and Head of Digital Enterprise at Maruti Suzuki India noted.

Speaking at TechSparks Bengaluru 2024 about the recently announced expansion of Maruti Suzuki’s accelerator programme to include global startups, Sahoo highlighted, “What works abroad doesn’t always work in India, but, on the contrary, what works in India will work for the world.”

“So, therefore, if startups from abroad can bring the technology and experiment in India and make it work for India, they will be more successful. And in the process, if you are able to tie up with some of our local startups and build a bridge, then why not?” he said, in a fireside chat with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory.

At the 15th edition of the annual TechSparks summit in Bengaluru, Sahoo emphasised that the Maruti Suzuki Accelerator now scouts for global startups besides Indian ones.

The automobile major has screened around 4,000 startups, engaging with about 100 of them through formal contracts, Sahoo shared. He further added that over 40 startups are conducting paid Proof of Concept (POC) projects, funded by Maruti Suzuki India. Of these, more than 20 have gone on to become business partners.

“In the 1980s when Maruti started, we brought a lot of technology from outside. We made sure that they are able to collaborate with Indian entrepreneurs to develop the supplier ecosystem. This is exactly what we are trying to do now with the startups. We want startups to come, experiment with us, build the technology with us, scale with us, and become the entrepreneur,” he remarked.

From a technology standpoint, Maruti Suzuki is not solely focused on vehicle technology but is exploring a wide range of innovations too. These include Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), computer vision, IoT, Industry 4.0, sustainability, and green mobility, deploying about 30 different technologies through 40 startups, he added.

Customer centricity

Sahoo emphasised that as an organisation, “customer centricity is the core thing”, which keeps it fighting against all challenges. The company has evolved in tandem with our customers' needs, continuously innovating as an organisation to align with their journeys.

It wants to serve the “customers of tomorrow”—customers who rely on smartphones and digital technologies—through the company’s innovation programme. He said that unless the automobile firm meets its stated and unstated needs, it will remain unsatisfied. 

Maruti Suzuki, which produces two million vehicles, plans to double it to four million in the next six years. Sahoo said the company aims to achieve what it did in the past 40 years and garner 30-40 million customers by 2030.

To solve these challenges seamlessly at speed and scale, it must adopt digital technologies as a core principle, and it won’t be easy without the involvement of startups in this journey, he remarked, adding, “startups are our strength.”

In 2019, Maruti Suzuki launched the Mobility and Automobile Innovation Lab to drive innovation in automobile manufacturing and mobility sectors. Starting with Cohort 9 in July, it has been rebranded as the Maruti Suzuki Accelerator to reflect its new identity.