Exclusive Interview with Ms. Hemalatha Annamalai, Founder & CEO at Ampere Vehicles Pvt. Ltd

In this issue, we are extremely happy to publish the interview of Ms. Hemalatha, the founder & CEO at Ampere Vehicles, a company that designs and manufactures wide range of economical and comfortable electric vehicles with the implementation of smart batteries and thereby contributing to environment sustainability. Ampere Vehicles Pvt. Ltd is headquartered in Singapore and is extensively dedicated to application driven technology that meets the requirements of new age electric vehicles. Ms Hemalatha has a wide experience of associations in the areas like professional recruitment, technology training and professional services for renowned companies like Wipro InfoTech, Uni Connect Pvt. Ltd and Cayenne Software. She has stepped into her entrepreneurial journey 15 years ago and constantly striving for providing high quality and cost-effective means of personal transportation with a wide range of Electric Mobility Solutions to all categories of people and businesses of the emerging markets in Asia and beyond.

Ampere’s contribution to the environment has fetched some of the prestigious awards such as: ‘Best Product Design’ for disabled by the State Commission for Differently Abled in Tamil Nadu for 2010; ‘Best SME company’ awarded by Coimbatore Management Association for 2011; ‘Best Eco-Friendly company’ contributing to Environment by Lead India 2020, a national movement initiated by former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam for 2012; Best Entrepreneur- Sadhana Award for the year 2012 by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Coimbatore and the most recent one includes ‘The CII Regional Emerging Entrepreneur Award’ in association with Business Line.

Ms Hemalatha holds an MBA degree from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia and a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Government College of Technology, Coimbatore.

Here are the excerpts of the exclusive interview with her:

Origiin: It is a great pleasure for us to interact with you and publish your thoughts in this interview.

Ms Hemalatha: Thank you Sabina, it’s a pleasure for us to interact with Origiin.

Origiin: For fifteen years, you have been in this entrepreneurial journey, I am sure you would love to share your experience in setting up your innovation driven company.

Ms Hemalatha: We are grooming young engineers in our team, who can be product managers in about 3-4 years. The average age of our team is about 26 years that shows the vibrancy with which we operate.

In 2010, when we had to supply some 1000 numbers of Battery Operated Scooters for Persons With Disability (PWD), the entire team worked tirelessly to execute the order. The team said mam, you pick the orders, we will deliver within timelines, I think this kind of team spirit is what makes Ampere take on bigger challenges and the team is motivated to strive for bigger things

Origiin: Innovation is a buzz word today, how have you been channelizing the innovation in the right direction to translate every innovative product into business growth of the enterprise?

Ms Hemalatha: We have few patents filed last year and some 13 more to be filed in the area of Electric Mobility. Non-Thermal Runaway Charger for VRLA Batteries, Battery Revival Process, Alarm less Anti Theft protection Circuit for Electric Vehicles, Inter Battery Heat Sink, Chip Integrated Intelligent Batteries are some of the areas where we have in-depth expertise.

I think in India, we are more followers. Original thinking exists, but we fail to execute on time, which makes us lack international credibility. With the new Govt’s“Make in India”challenge, we are positive about this new initiatives.

On April 8, 2015, Government of India launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan through Department of Heavy Industries. About 3-4 of our technical projects have been accepted by the Government for pilot projects in some specific locations, which very clearly shows that the government wanted local entrepreneurs and technologies to be developed in India.

Origiin: What are the challenges that you face while introducing your products to customers in terms of acceptability or cost etc?

Ms Hemalatha: There are still certain obstacles that we face; some of them that I would like to highlight are such us-

1. Conducive Govt Policies for the EV industry specifically making any subsidies be given to end users directly, this will impact end user decisions.
2. Financing for E-bikes are not prevalent which makes  buying difficult.
3. The industry suffers chronic awareness problems, for instance, when we launched in 2008, people said that EV cannot go high speed, cannot climb slope, will not run in rainy seasons, spare parts not available, cannot take doubles, etc, which are all myths. All these have been overcome with grit and determination.
4. The consumer market in India is more a reference buying stage as the EV market is still not mainstream yet. With the government’s announcement of Subsidies, the consumer market will improve and lastly,
5. There are very few local manufacturers who are in India who make batteries suitable for Indian power, grid and road conditions, and this also makes it difficult.

Origiin: What role does innovation play in economic growth? How important is the protection of innovation in terms of patent, copyright, design or trademark?

Ms Hemalatha: We wanted to be an Electric Focused, product based but solution driven company covering both domestic and international markets. We received our first export order for Electric Trolley to carry about 600 kgs of load, which is very useful for material movement within factory premises. When the customer came to our factory and checked on us, the first question was our commitment to patent, copyright etc. They also understood that we were patenting some of the new technologies developed, which gave them solid comfort, I presumed. If anyone aspires to be a long term player, design/trademark/copyright is paramount and building blocks for growth and scale.

Origiin: Do you feel Indian IPR regime is friendly enough to encourage lots of innovative growth and filing for protection, or there are still some lacunas which we need to work on.

Ms Hemalatha: The official processes take a long time to get patents registered in India. If this can be reduced and the process becomes simpler as well as track able, I think more companies and entrepreneurs will benefit. Today, the IP process from start to finish takes 4-5 years which is too long and requires lots of patience.

Origiin: Would you like to give any advice to young aspirants who carry the same zeal like yours to venture into entrepreneurship and contribute to a greener environment?

Ms Hemalatha: I think anyone who wanted to venture into making a product or service must beworking in a similar industry for 2-3 years, generate enough contacts and network in that domain which can help validate their idea for take off. Making a business plan and tracking it is important. Getting the first 5-10 reference customers will be key for getting funds, and then ensure you scale carefully.  Customer Orders and cash-flow planning are important and must be through right from the start, reviewed systematically, any errors made must be captured and discussed with the team to prevent from happening again. And last but not the least, communicate and CONNECT at all levels. Entrepreneurs should not assume the role of CEO too quickly, until about 100 crs being hands-on is NOT micro management, in my view.

Origiin: Thank you so much ma’am, for your valuable inputs and your time spared for Origiin. I am sure our readers will thoroughly enjoy it.