NASSCOM CoE - IoT & AI Vizag and AP Innovation Society organized ‘Re-imagining DCIL at 4.0’ webinar to showcase the opportunities present for technology startups at India's premier dredging company Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL), and how a startup can avail of it. Technology Startups from across the spectrum participated and learned about the opportunities present. DCIL listed opportunities for the startups that can help the company serve the ports in a better manner. Sanjeev Malhotra, CEO, NASSCOM Center of Excellence, said that "We have a very vibrant startup ecosystem developing world class solutions. We at Nasscom CoE, MeitY initiative with AP Innovation society, look forward to working with Dredging corp on adopting these solutions on their mission of atma nirbhar bharat."

Rajesh Tripathi, MD, Dredging Corporation of India Limited, said, “Even a small snag leads to a halt of several days incurring expenses; we hope that some of the startups will come for the rescue. We will welcome companies to associate with us and develop with us, we will support them. I propose that companies of interest can register with us through a selection process in transparent manner. We will spend in R&D, quality should be maintained, and rates should be proper. We will assure that they will get proper billing on time, so small startups can come.”

 “Most of the spares are available in India but we need to have better ways. Similarly, we are into hydraulics and buy it from abroad, and we wish we can get it in India,” he added. 

On a query on how startups can get the contracts, the company informed that the tender part will be considered as DCIL works according to the government regulations. DCIL said that it is exploring the part in the tenders that can be made in a way that small players and startups can take part.

Talking about the opportunities for the startups at DCIL, Captain S Diwakar, GM Operation, DCIL, said, “The company is looking forward to startups to help DCIL in: To install software equipment which can work offline by ship staff onboard, for indenting spares, stores and daily utilization & dredging reports of the vessel, etc. To capture fuel/lube/spares/stores consumption data from the vessels, and generate fortnightly reports, and also alert concerned when consumption increases above benchmark; To auto-generate spares/stores indent status and to send an email to respective vessels and all concerned.”

The company also would like the startups to come with a solution by developing software pinging the differences in physical stock & inventory stock and reminding the concerned accordingly. “To develop software towards inventory item-wise cost analysis and its procurement status from various vendors. To develop software for monitoring of production-related equipment and their technical parameters such as velocity, density, pressure, etc. To develop software which can monitor the dry dock repairs from the stage of package preparing to completion,” informed Captain Diwakar.

The company also talked about the requirements in finance & accounts, HR, and IT. Captain Diwakar informed that DCIL will welcome startups for the development of Real-Time Integrated Monitoring System software or an application towards effective monitoring such as production, efficiency, fuel & freshwater consumption. “We would also like the startups to work on the development of Project Management System (dredging oriented) by linking day-to-day production and projected time of completion and its analysis,” said Captain Diwakar.