Avathon To Make India Global R&D Hub, Triple Indian Workforce, Target 25% Revenues Locally

Pervinder Johar, chief executive officer of Avathon, said, “India is at the heart of Avathon’s roadmap and will play a pivotal role in our expansion, serving as a hub for product engineering, delivery, support, and R&D. Our rebranding effort aims to communicate the real-world applications of AI, and how we’re revolutionising industries like energy, supply chain, and aviation. We are dedicated to empowering traditional industries by harnessing AI to drive efficiency, enhance operational excellence, and develop sustainable solutions.”

In a conversation with NDTV Profit, Johar added that from 70 people in February this year, headcount is already up to 140 and will go up to 400, with about 75% of the team in India focused on R&D. He added while Avathon would like to add more, the challenge is finding the right people in India as industrial AI calls for a unique blend of AI skills with conventional engineering skills, in domains like mechanical engineering. "Even this year, I will probably have less people hired in India than what I had budgeted for, and I think it's going to take us another two years to get there," he explained. 

Sharing details on the industrial AI platform Avathon is building, and which is the reason for the rebranding, Johar said assets around $100 trillion worth are ageing, and the challenge is to extend the life of this critical and expensive infrastructure while being ready for technology shifts to an autonomous future.

He provided an example of aircraft as one such asset. Airlines would be relieved to reduce emergency landings, especially when a long-haul flight has to land in some remote place in Canada or Russia as Air India has faced multiple times over the past year. Getting parts and engineering teams to such locations is never easy, "so the work we do is on the prescriptive side. Going forward, using an AI copilot, engineers can do more. Assets themselves are changing, and there's autonomous flying too. The AI applications we're working on are related to these future assets too, which are not even out there today." 

Avathon's platform will help customers in all these scenarios, whether they are large aircraft manufacturers, airlines, defence groups or automotive or oil & gas or renewable energy firms. Given the rapid change in manufacturing technologies, Avathon is building a platform that will enable customers to not just manage assets today, but plan for the future and be ready when that future comes, by evolving as the technology evolves.