A JOURNEY FROM ENERGY-EFFICIENT PUMPS TO EV SECTOR

A CONVERSATION THAT UNFOLDS THE UNIQUE GROWTH STORY OF DINESH PATIDAR’S SHAKTI PUMPS

- SUJATHA VISHNURAJ

FROM SELLING VEGETABLES AT THE TENDER age of 13 to help his father run the house to an entrepreneur who successfully captured the lion's share of the pump market in India to foray into the EV segment—Dinesh Patidar, the Chairman and Managing Director of Shakti Pump have had not just an interesting but an inspiring journey to the top. Established in 1982, Shakti Pumps is currently registered in around 130 countries - a big step for a local steel pump manufacturer.

In a short period, Patidar, from being the manufacturer of simple stainless steel pumps, has become the ambassador for solar pumps in India. When quizzed about the journey, he said, "My major areas of interest are designing and developing new products, experimenting with new ideas in designing and working on complex engineering challenges." He further stated, "We have always routed 3-4% of our net profit toward R&D. It is the core part of our operations and our success. We have our R&D unit, where we design the structure in house, and then after rigorous testing of each product, we get a third-party quality validation done to ensure standardised quality and design sturdiness. We also keep improving our line of products and have always been open to taking inputs from experts to increase our product's sturdiness and durability. We constantly endeavour to innovate energy-efficient solutions through continuous investments in our R&D department."