Engineers India Limited : Engineers India Limited

By Ajay N Deshpande | Director (Technical) | Engineers India Limited

Introduction

Engineers  India  Limited  (EIL)  was  founded  in  1965  to  provide  ‘Indian  capability  for  refinery design & engineering’ and related technical services to hydrocarbon industry. Today EIL is one of India’s leading Engineering Consultancy and EPC companies in Hydrocarbons and Petrochemicals with over five decades of experience on landmark projects with global energy majors and with a significant track record across the entire Oil & Gas value chain.EIL is a technology driven organization which believes that investment in technology is imperative for maintaining its leadership position.

Right from its inception, it has been the endeavour of EIL to continuously better the quality of its services to clients by providing value addition and leveraging technological advances. It is with this vision and to foster the spirit of innovation and creativity in the organization that EIL’s Research and Development (R&D) Division was established. R&D has contributed significantly in the consolidation of existing capabilities, development of new technologies & hardware and enhancement of the portfolio for specialized technical services. R&D Division is pursuing developmental activities, both in house and in collaboration with academic institutes like IIT Delhi and other R&D organizations like IOCL-R&D, CSIR-IIP, BPCL (R&D), etc. Apart from these established R&D organizations EIL (R&D) has also been collaborating and cooperating with other organizations to promote the creative ideas generated mutually. Thus EIL-R&D in close coordination with specialist engineering groups will be spearheading the efforts towards Start-up India initiatives undertaken by the organization.

Start-up India Flagship Program

The Government of India has launched a slew of Flagship programs for focused efforts that will yield quick results and fast-track fulfilment of various developmental and social objectives. Some of these are ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Swachch Bharat Mission’, ‘Digital India’, ‘SMART Cities Mission’, ‘Amrut Yojana’ and ‘Start-Up India’.

“Start-Up India”, one of the flagship programmes, signals the clear resolve of the Government to build a start-up culture in the country and to empower and grow the country’s start-up and innovation ecosystem. Besides  entrepreneurs, different kinds of financial support including grants, debt financing, equity investments and non-financial support such as mentoring and technical back-up, incubation  & acceleration support, a start-up ecosystem  also includes the government policies and programmes relevant to start-ups, academia, firms and other organisations that interact with or support start-ups in different ways. Start-ups that are driven by innovation and looking to scale up their operation offer opportunities for growth and employment generation and can avail the numerous tax incentives and other benefits being rolled out by the Government through this flagship programme. Cash flow, creating a capacity to scale and finding the right people have always posed  major challenges for Indian start-ups and these are the issues that this program is designed to address.

Announced on 15th August 2015 and formally launched through a Start-Up India workshop on Jan 16, 2016, this program has been making rapid strides and looks all set to attain the critical mass that will sustain an innovation revolution in India. The Government has been very proactive in terms of policy interventions for much needed course corrections. Acknowledging the long gestation period for Start-ups, the definition has been amended and an entity shall be considered as a Start-up for up to 7 years (from earlier 5 years) and a Biotechnology Start-up for up to 10 years from the date of its incorporation/ registration. Also, the scope of the definition has been broadened to include scalable business model with high potential of employment generation or wealth creation. Furthermore, no letter of recommendation from an incubator/industry association shall be required for either recognition or tax benefits. As per the latest status report, out of the applications received, 2865 have been recognised as Start-ups by DIPP.

As per DIPP, formal definition of a Start-up has been set out as follows:

• Start-up means an entity, incorporated or registered in India
• Not prior to seven years (not prior to ten years for Biotechnology Start-ups),
• With annual turnover not exceeding INR 25 crore in any preceding financial year, and
• Working towards innovation, development or improvement of products or processes or services, or if it is a scalable business model with a high potential of employment generation or wealth creation
• Provided that such entity is not formed by splitting up, or reconstruction, of a business already in existence. Provided also that an entity shall cease to be a Start-up if its turnover for the previous financial years has exceeded INR 25 crore or it has completed 7 years and for biotechnology start-ups 10 years from the date of incorporation/ registration. Provided further that a Start-up shall be eligible for tax benefits only after it has obtained certification from the Inter-Ministerial Board, setup for such purpose.

Start-up India by MoPNG

Like the ‘Make in India’ initiative that has already garnered an incredible response from young India, the policy decisions by the Government that seek to incentivize risk taking and innovation with tax breaks have already given a flying start to the Start-Up India campaign. Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) is the first Ministry to take up the start-up initiative in its own sector. MoPNG views this flagship programme as a wonderful opportunity to leverage the technological prowess of the oil & gas industry and harness an enabling mechanism within the CPSEs under its fold so that a sustained effort is made to promote the ideas and innovations in the Hydrocarbon value chain.

EngSUI: EIL’s Start-up India initiative

EngSUI, the Start-Up India initiative by Engineers India Limited, reflects MoPNG’s commitment to encourage innovation, disruption and technological breakthroughs, in the oil & gas sector. Broadly aligned to the objectives set out by Govt. of India for this flagship programme, EIL intends to create an enabling system for promoting the Start-Up India initiative by offering Intellectual support, Infrastructural support and Financial Support.

The objective of the EngSUI program is to stimulate, foster and enhance strategic research and innovation capabilities in oil & gas industry for addressing its short-term needs and building a sustainable ecosystem as a long-term goal. While a list of focus areas have been identified to provide initial direction and fillip to this initiative, these are by no means exclusively restricted to oil and gas sector only. The innovative ideas in other areas that result in spin-off benefits to the oil & gas sector would be equally welcome.

Energy is the élan vital for our nation. With the growing demand for energy projected in the years to come, Start Ups giving innovative solutions in the field of energy are a need of the hour. Besides the support of the policymakers and the industry, support of the academia is also crucial for start-up entrepreneurs and the Incubation Centres at various academic Institutes perform a vital role on this front. EngSUI seeks to channel start up projects through a network of incubation centres functioning successfully at leading academic institutions like the IITs.

EIL encourages Start Ups to take up projects in following areas under the EngSUI program:

• Developing new processes / technologies for the energy sector in general and for the oil and gas industry in particular
• Developing capability to commercially manufacture and supply hardware
• Information Technology (IT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) interventions that further the concept of a smart refinery
• Other prominent areas are:
  • Renewable energy and storage
  • Nano materials
  • Petrochemicals
  • Raw materials for future manufacturing processes
  • Waste to energy
  • Health, Safety & Environment (HSE)

EngSUI web portal

Incubation Centers have been functioning successfully at IITs and other leading academic institutes for several years now. Most of these have been listed by DIPP as facilitators for the Start Up India initiative. EIL has launched its own dedicated web portal (www.eil.co.in/engsui) to coordinate and facilitate seamless interaction with these incubation centres.

Figure 1: EngSUI Web Portal

Through this web portal, EIL has invited all such Incubation Centers at various IITs for partnership in implementing the EngSUI initiative. Several centers have responded positively to this call and, after a formal process of registration on the EngSUI web site, they have forwarded innovative project proposals by enterprising start-ups and incubates for consideration under the EngSUI programme. After due screening, several of these are in the final stages of approval for being taken up for implementation through EngSUI.

Broadly two categories of project proposals are being encouraged through EngSUI. Aspiring innovators, students even, can work on a proof of concept or a working prototype embodying their innovative idea through the Innovation Challenge program under EngSUI. On the other hand, entities that have sought formal recognition from DIPP as Start Ups can utilise EngSUI funds to scale up their working idea or prototype to the production levels characteristic of a commercial enterprise.

Technical hand-holding of start-ups

Young entrepreneurs venturing forth boldly with usually nothing more than an innovative idea are extremely vulnerable. Considerable hand-holding is needed during the incubation phase for successful transition to an established start-up. The Incubation Centers help them to a great extent by extending office space and associated infrastructure, access to legal and financial consultation, laboratories and tinkering workshops for their experimentation and technical mentors who can steer them past technical hurdles.

EIL, with its rich experience of setting up and executing mega projects can contribute immensely to this technical mentorship of start-ups. Each start-up project taken up under the EngSUI initiative will be assigned a Technical Mentor from EIL who will work with the start-up alongside the technical team assigned to the incubation center from the academic institute. A dedicated team has been constituted by EIL to ensure that dream of a vibrant innovation ecosystem in the country bears fruit through initiatives such as EngSUI.

This Article has been Co-Authored by:

Vartika Shukla | Executive Director (Technical) | Engineers India Limited

(Shilpa Bichitra | Special Edition | 2017)