IIT Kanpur's start-up gets govt funding of over INR 3 crore

Kritsnam Technologies, the IIT Kanpur incubated startup company, has secured funding of INR 3.29 crore from the government to develop smart water management technologies.

Department of Science & Technology (DST) has given funding of INR 3.29 crore to Kritsnam Technologies, the IIT Kanpur incubated startup company, for developing a smart water monitoring system. The objective is effective monitoring and controlling of groundwater exploitation in India.

Kritsnam Technologies is developing ‘Dhaara Smart Flowmeter’ - an integrated system for online monitoring using two beam ultrasonic flowmeters that are designed to track the water distribution in real-time for applications such as drinking water supply, groundwater extraction, industrial water usage and precision irrigation. 

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology Jitendra Singh announced the funding and said that the technology, will initially focus on commercial users, and can be a game changer in effectively monitoring and controlling groundwater exploitation across the country in the future, as reported by KNN India.

Dhaara Smart Flowmeter initially aims at commercial users like hotels, hospitals, malls, IT parks, schools, colleges and industrial users such as food products, packaged drinking water, pharmaceuticals, paper and pulp, etc.

The device collects data through sensors, stores it in the device, and transmits it to the online cloud servers. The data transmitted to servers is analysed and displayed in the dashboard. This unique solution is a combination of hardware and software for flow measurement and water management.

“The Dhaara Smart Flowmeter will help for online monitoring using two beam ultrasonic flowmeters that is designed to track the water distribution in real-time for applications such as drinking water supply, groundwater extraction, industrial water usage and precision irrigation,” said an official statement by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

More Details

An MoU was signed between the Technology Development Board (TDB) under the Department of Science and Technology and Kritsnam Technologies Private Limited, Ranchi, Jharkhand for the production and commercialisation of the Dhaara Smart Flow Meter. “Dhaara Smart Flow Meter will greatly benefit Prime Minister Modi’s Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), an INR 6,000 crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of groundwater resources with community participation,” said Jitendra Singh.

The scheme is being implemented in 80 water-stressed districts and 8,565 Gram Panchayats in seven states viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh from April 1, 2020, for a period of five years. “Dhaara Smart Flow Meter can also help bulk water consumers to budget their water usage and empower them to understand their patterns, points of inefficiencies and help them to build strong strategies for reducing water wastage,” he added.

Read more:

• IIT Kanpur develops novel application for children with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia
• IIT Kanpur, BHEL sign MoU for joint research on Defence, Aerospace Sectors