Dassault Systèmes' fully aligned with 'Make In India' vision; wants drones to be like plug and play; as simple as feature phones: Tanuj Mittal

Inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi, India's biggest drone festival - 'Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022', a 2-day event, witnessed over 70 exhibitors displaying various use cases of drones at the exhibition. Who's who of aviation and aerospace, visitors and the likes visited the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi to know more about what's there in store for India in terms of drones, related techonology, usage and more. On the sidelines of the event, Tanuj Mittal, Director Sales, Customer Process Experience - India at Dassault Systèmes, spoke to Zee Business Digital about plans, Make in India, jobs, technology, platforms and more.

Dassault Systèmes: Indian at heart

Explaining how Dassault Systèmes is headquartered in France but Indian at heart, Tanuj Mittal said, "We have 2 R&D centres in India, and this is my 12th year in the organisation. We have had a great learning curve when it comes to providing services in India. India is a very important market to Dassault Systèmes." 

Drones' demand: Growth is exponential

Further, talking about how demand for drones has grown in the past, Mittal said, "The growth is exponential. Over the period of time, the demand has increased for drones meant for irrigation purposes as well. Nowadays, drones are being used a lot for many areas for which it was completely unexplored, and new arenas are getting opened for drone applications."

"When Covid-19 pandemic hit India, nobody imagined that drones will be utilised to deliver vaccines in remote areas. In case of massive event like Kumbh Mela, drones came up as a big help for monitoring purposes for safety and security of visitors," he added.

Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022: Make In India vision

When asked about how Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 will help drone industry, manufactures and the relevant people involved in the domain, Mittal said, "Government has a huge focus on drone and its technology. The government by means of events like these giving a big push and removing the roadblocks. This is really helpful."

Heaping praises on Modi government's Make In India vision, he said, "Dassault Systèmes has the same vision as that of the government as our products right from designing them virtually to transforming into the real product, every thing is being done in India, that too with Indian manpower, technology and logistics. And, this is how jobs are also being created in India."

3D platform: Dassault Systèmes

Explaining how idea of any drones transforms into reality in India at Dassault Systèmes, he said, "Right from the designing of the drone at 3D platform to finally making the actual product, every thing will be taking place in India only. However, the time that a particular product takes from designing to actual manufacturing varies depending on the purpose of the drone - defence, irrigation, monitoring, surveillance, etc.

Drones: Technology - Ahead of times

"Prior to manufacturing every details needs to be ascertained, and iterations might crop up to ensure that what we have dreamt is coming to shape in the same form and format. Dassault Systèmes ensures that all the requirements like - height, range, weight carrying capacity, etc have been taken care of before the final demo and simulation. 

Mittal says, "We should always keep in mind that whatever we are designing for drones should be ahead of times otherwise by the time the product will come out in physical form then the technology used will be obselete because technology is growing so fast."

Drones: Plug & Play

Explaining the level of comfort they want to give to end consumers when it comes to using drones, Mittal said, "Operating drones should be like plug and play or as simple as feature phone operations."

"Dassault Systèmes is completely aligned with the Make In India vision of Modi government and wants to make for India first with entire design to manufacturing locally only," he concluded.