The father-son duo, Shri S.K. Arya, Chairman and Shri Nishant Arya, Executive Director, JBM Group, are an outstanding synergy of entrepreneurial vision and tech driven millennial aspirations. Together, they have built JBM, a global conglomerate having diversified business verticals of Auto Components & Systems, Buses & Electric Vehicles, EV Charging Infrastructure, EV Aggregates, Renewable Energy, Environment Management, Railways and Artificial Intelligence. All these businesses of the Group are linked to the socio-economic growth of the Nation supporting the Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi’s ‘Skill India’ initiative, ‘Make in India’ mission and call for ‘Vocal for Local’ to realise his Atmanirbhar vision for a new India.
Shri S.K. Arya, Chairman and Shri Nishant Arya, Executive Director
How does JBM envisage itself in a defining role to realise PM Modi’s vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat?
As a group, JBM is a ‘35-year-young’ business entity established in 1983 having interest in diverse business portfolios with over 45 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities across 20 locations in India. We cover and address the entire gamut of surface transport or mobility ranging from the ubiquitous two-wheeler to even the high-end railway. Having generated a very high employment opportunity for over 30,000 people, this massive manpower strength stands tall in integrity and values while delivering its products & services across the wide spectrum of stakeholders. JBM is actively focussing towards building sustainable solutions indigenously, thereby, aligning itself with the government’s vision of making India self-reliant.
How is JBM’s business strategies aligned to the ‘Make in India’ vision?
Technology, Innovative business models and People i.e., TIP is what JBM focuses on as an organization for achieving ‘Make in India’ mission target. In reality, it is a conducive environment that promotes sustainability and scalability where People are driving Innovative business models using the right Technology. JBM businesses are propelled by this basic premise to contribute towards the nation’s big dream- ‘Make in India’ and more importantly ‘Make for India’.
How are you working towards achieving sustainability and scalability?
If comfort, safety and affordability of JBM products were to come for a price, we would fail in our purpose to address the needs of the common man. Therefore, the technology or innovative business models are being used in a manner that optimum benefit reaches the common man. This has led to JBM adopting an ecosystem approach which is being amplified by venturing into renewable energy and shifting focus to sustainability and scalability. In fact, scalability is achievable only when an organization is working on sustainable business models failing which the strategy will eventually collapse. Therefore, at any point of time it must be borne in mind that the success of a business is driven through the growth of the society and the Nation, at large.
JBM’s STATE OF THE ART MANUFACTURING FACILITY
Can you please tell us about products and solutions that you have developed in the electric vehicles segment?
Our Buses & EV division is perfectly aligned with the Make in India mission, a precursor to Atmanirbhar Bharat vision. At JBM we have curated the ‘Well-to-Wheel’ concept that aids towards building this ecosystem as an end to end solution. We manufacture 100% Electric buses in India and to support the running of these buses, we provide EV charging stations as well. Our renewable energy division caters to setting up solar power plants for generation of green energy that is, in turn, supplied to the EV chargers. In a nutshell, we have entire range of in-house solutions right from green energy generation to energy consumption. India is well poised to become a key player in the EV space considering the size of our market. We have already deployed our EV solutions across various locations in India, starting with Navi Mumbai where JBM has supplied 30 ECO-LIFE 100% electric buses. ECO-LIFE, a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) saves around 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 350,000 litres of diesel over 10 years of its operations.
India aims to achieve a total installed solar capacity of 20 GW by 2022. Since JBM has ventured into the solar energy sector, what progress have you made?
For the past three years JBM has been focusing on ways to propel EV and solar energy by building a very sustainable model and to scale it up across the country as also to other parts of the world. JBM again works around three things - Comfort, Safety and Affordability (CAS) that again brings our attention to how individuals are able to use that product, servicing, solutions and experiences. Strict adherence is maintained to achieve CAS.
JBM entered into renewables for sustainability with two solar energy business models. One directly feeds the grid at different locations, where large-scale ground-mounted projects supply power for industrial, commercial, agricultural use etc. JBM has already started switching to renewable energy to power its various manufacturing facilities. Besides, several iconic buildings of the country such as the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, Lucknow Railway station and many more are being powered entirely by JBM solar power. Among the various solar projects already operational, one of our largest solar projects in India with a power generation capacity of 135 MW spanning over 600 acres of land is in Maharashtra. We have also executed the largest project in the state of Haryana with a power capacity of 20MW. Similarly, JBM has such multiple solar projects in its pipeline.
‘Skilling India’ is closely linked to economic development. How is JBM contributing to the initiative?
JBM is setting up multiple skill development centres having accreditation from various central ministries. The Group, rated as one having the best skill development centres at different forums is enrolling thousands of people every year at three of its centres across the country i.e., Faridabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai. JBM intends to go pan India very soon by setting up self-sufficient centres in multiple states. Skilling is integral for maintaining the value chain for the success of this kind of ventures. Government recognised certified course ranging from one month to three years include both classroom training i.e., theoretical and real time training at mechanical shops where the trainees are trained for initial understanding and thereafter sent for on the job training. Candidates come from as far as Chhattisgarh and the Northeast who are trained and employed either in-house or in other companies. In the last 3-4 years, JBM has trained more than 10,000 candidates. JBM’s work culture and objectives are clearly aligned to Atmanibhar Bharat Vision and supports the spirit of ‘Vocal for local’.
How does JBM Waste-to-Energy (WTE) interlinked with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?
Through JBM’s Municipal Solid Waste/ WTE, we are trying to explore at a basic level how government’s initiative ‘Swachh Bharat’ is being looked at in the society and where we can provide technology and invest our resources. As an organization, we were among the pioneers in India to do so and our MSW experience started in Chennai and Ambattur in Tamil Nadu. JBM has been carrying out WTE operations across multiple cities in Haryana such as Sonipat, Panipat, Gannaur and Samalkha among others.
What is JBM doing in areas like AI and Digital Manufacturing?
AI is the norm today that not only simplifies the processes and systems but also enhances productivity and quality multifold. Keeping with our vision of incorporating and upgrading our processes and systems with latest technology, graduating to Artificial Intelligence and Digital Manufacturing is like a natural progression for us. AI will also aid in channelizing the manpower towards value added jobs rather than repetitive and routine tasks. Our BI and MI tools and other processes are done through AI with real time data and analytics.
India is being looked at as the next manufacturing destination from global companies. Your views ?
T he bilateral ties between India and Japan, Korea, and the USA will certainly have a long-term positive impact in this regard . Japan has already announced a $2billion investment package for companies to move out of China. The Make in India programme is sure to gain increased momentum with the inflow of foreign companies, thereby, strengthening the manufacturing capabilities inhouse and India well-positioned in becoming the contract manufacturer for the world. The government can come up with new tax brackets to promote new companies to invest in India in sectors such as automobiles, textiles, high-tech manufacturing, EVs, etc.
