In an exclusive conversation with CXO News and APAC News Network, Kishor Patil, CEO & MD, KPIT Technologies tracks the company’s shift in focus from IT services to automotive engineering services and its emergence as an ER&D player powering India’s EV growth.
What are the solutions and services available in the KPIT Technologies platform?
KPIT Technologies is focused on the automotive and mobility ecosystem. The mobility ecosystem is transforming worldwide, with software at its heart, and the entire vehicle technology architecture is evolving. Our solutions are designed to help OEMs transition to a new architecture and technology stack, spanning from chip to cloud. We assist them in developing robust middleware, which is crucial for creating end-to-end vehicle architectures. We bring deep domain expertise across propulsion (conventional and electric/hybrid vehicles), autonomous driving, and connected vehicles. At our core, we are the largest software integration partner in the mobility ecosystem.
For an auto-industry-focused software service provider like KPIT, what are your major deals across different verticals, including strategic accounts, passenger car vertical, electric powertrain, autonomous driving, and digital connected solution practices?
At KPIT, our strategy is to work with select clients, whom we refer to as our T25 clients. These clients are investing billions of dollars to reimagine their technology stacks, aiming to deliver exceptional consumer experiences while increasing revenues and profitability. Our strategic partnerships with companies like Honda, Renault, and Cummins are well-known examples in the public domain, where we serve as their strategic partner for software-defined mobility.
Beyond these, we have several other deep engagements with automotive OEMs worldwide across the passenger car and commercial vehicle sectors. In the emerging automotive landscape, we are also focusing on trucks and off-highway vehicle manufacturers.
How have you managed the transition from primarily an IT services player to an auto-focused engineering services player?
At KPIT, our team has been passionate about Automotive for the last two decades. We spend a lot of time on some business fundamentals like Vision, Purpose, and mission and detailing how we will make the shift. We defined our vision as Reimagining mobility for a cleaner smarter and safer world. Also, we defined the mission in detail to cover how we will make this happen with Clients, Employees, Technology, delivery, and sustainability areas. Our team’s passion and conviction helped us make this unique decision to give away 2/3rd of our IT business and only focus on Automotive Software. Absolute clarity quick steps and proactive investments helped us to make this happen.
What is the impact of KPIT’s India-first sodium-ion battery technology that is potentially reducing the country’s reliance on imported lithium-ion for powering Electric Vehicles?
Solutions that enable clean mobility and sustainable mobility are at the heart of our vision. We have worked on many solutions, including software for BEV, hybrids, and conventional powertrains– many that power cleaner mobility. Our recent focused efforts on Hydrogen Fuel Cell tech and Sodium Ion Battery technology are both cutting-edge and cost-competitive. Our sodium-ion battery technology is a game-changer for India. There is a current over-reliance on Lithium-based battery technology and reliance on imports for battery production and specific lithium-rich countries. Sodium is more abundant and less expensive than lithium, making this technology cost-effective, sustainable, and a powerful alternative.
What is the future of self-driving cars on Indian roads? How is KPIT leveraging AI for autonomous driving?
Self-driving or Autonomous Driving is ranked across L0-L5 levels to indicate the extent of autonomy, with L5 Indicating full self-driving. Most vehicles available in the market today are in the L2 level of autonomy. These are all features like adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning& correction, emergency braking and more that help drivers make safe choices on the road. We are seeing that Indian consumers are willing to pay that premium for safety. With congestion on Indian roads, infrastructure, and signal variability across cities, it will take time for higher levels of autonomy to be introduced. Higher levels are potentially possible within well-defined environments like university campuses, industry campuses, and airports. AI forms the core of algorithms that go into Advanced driver assistance and Autonomous solutions by KPIT. Pattern detection, image recognition, sensor fusion and other techniques are the AI and ML components that power our solutions.
How does KPIT differentiate itself uniquely from other competitors in the auto software services landscape?
KPIT is unique on many counts
- We are Independent – Independent of specific platforms, tech, and OEM associations. This helps is work across global OEMs bringing in best practices and truly being strategic and consultative
- We bring Competence at scale – Over 13000 specialists in automotive and mobility software. Combination of domain expertise and tech know-how
- We have prebuilt solutions/accelerators and platforms by ourselves or with close partnerships to reduce time and cost to bring vehicles and features faster to market
- Most work we do are new age tech programs
- We have built Strategic alliances across chip-to-cloud
- Deep presence in global talent hubs like Germany, France, USA, Tunisia, Thailand and India
What are the catalysts for KPIT’s growth in the ER&D space?
Global corporations are seeing a few factors at play. Clean Tech, AI, and supply chain disruptions are creating a new environment for KPIT and India ER&D players to benefit from.
The automotive industry’s move towards electrification highlights the increasing importance of green technology and sustainability across all sectors. This transition offers India a significant opportunity to emerge as a global leader in sustainable solutions.
At the same time, the rise of AI and Gen AI is revolutionizing industries worldwide. While autonomous vehicles are a notable example, the influence of AI and Gen AI extends across various sectors, with businesses eager to harness its potential. With its strong foundation in software and technology, KPIT is well-positioned to seize this opportunity and lead in the AI-driven future.
Supply chain changes in the developed world: the number of people enrolling for STEM-based careers along with a number of people retiring is creating a paucity of workforce and talent available for such cutting-edge tech programs.
What are the key pillars on which KPIT’s GTM strategy rests in India? What are some of the key initiatives under this strategy?
KPIT currently counts Asia, Europe, and the USA as the largest markets, with Asia growing the fastest. KPIT’s play with Indian OEMs and Global Capacity Centers of larger Automotive leaders is shaping up. We will bring our tech know-how and scale, our platforms tools, and accelerators to benefit these organizations. Our partnerships across chip to cloud and investments we made for building the entire tech stack for SDV also form a key component of our GTM.
What is the overall channel structure that KPIT currently follows in India?
We directly work with Global OEMs and their competency centers.
How can India reduce the overreliance on China for the global automotive market?
The global automotive landscape is fast evolving, with clean tech, software, AI, and consumer personalization becoming the focus. With India’s deep focus on Make in India, if we can pivot to Design and Make in India, Investments in a deep tech ecosystem, talent upskilling, and a strong ER&D ecosystem, India will become a stronger player. This is especially an opportunity as India is developing as 3rd largest manufacturer in the world.
What are going to be KPIT’s key focus areas in the next few quarters?
We continue our focus on automotive and mobility vertical with doubling down on Trucks and the Off-highway segment in addition to our growing passenger car vertical. We will work more on our China and India markets. Talent development and upskilling will continue. As we have shared in our quarterly, we continue to focus on revenue growth and profitability.
Rajneesh De, APAC News Network
