Zypp plans to venture into different segments of mobility and transportation: Akash Gupta

Zypp Electric, is India's leading EV rental and the largest EV logistics player. It is India's leading D2C EV brand, which helps the last-mile delivery go electric, increase sales and revenue with doorstep delivery and reduce pollution.

Akash Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Zypp Electric, tells us more. Excerpts from an interview:

DQ: Elaborate on the current situation of the Make in India scheme.

Akash Gupta: Make in India is a revolutionary scheme that has enabled more entrepreneurs and thought leaders to introduce innovations that have and will play a pivotal role in redefining goods and services in the country. To drive similar innovation in the electric vehicle space, the government also introduced multiple policies, the most influential one being FAME , Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (hybrid and) electric vehicles in India. This policy introduced the 40% subsidy on electric vehicles which I believe acted as a catalyst for the adoption of EVs in the country, thus enabling more business opportunities for players like Zypp.

The Indian government is committed to make India the global hub for EVs and with policies like FAME that extends subsidy to OEMs, it is on the right track. Attempting to contribute to the initiative and being a truly Make-in-India organisation for Indians, we have also partnered with Hero Electric, India's largest OEM, for its fleets as a testament to the initiative.

DQ: What is your contribution to the sector in India?

Akash Gupta: We, at Zypp, are addressing one of India’s biggest e-2-wheeler demand, making us the largest two-wheeler EV operator in India. We have partnered with industry leaders like Zomato, Swiggy, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and BigBasket to extend our fleet for services that have played a significant role in also reducing the country’s carbon emission by multi-folds.

In addition to extending fleet services, we also act as an EV rental platform, making us a one-stop-solution for both, commercial and personal use.

DQ: What are the key projects under this ‘Make In India’ scheme?

Akash Gupta: While we are not currently into manufacturing the EVs, we have only partnered with Indian OEMs, and are only onboarding FAME approved products as a part of our fleet.

DQ: The Indian Government now seeks to promote the growth of the drone manufacturing sector in India, in conjunction with the Drone Rules 2021. Is there a progression?

Akash Gupta: The Indian Aviation ministry recently commented that they are envisioning India to become the global drone hub by 2030. This stands as a unique opportunity for industry players to amp the investment and the tech led efforts to align with this announcement.

Our ultimate goal and aim at Zypp is to act as a solution provider that will address all transportation and logistics-related hassles, while encouraging and adopting more Make in India products. Zypp plans to venture into different segments of mobility and transportation, and one such segment being facilitating deliveries via drones.

DQ: What is your offering for the local and global markets?

Akash Gupta: Our business model is to provide carbon-free last-mile delivery for e-commerce giants, local businesses, and delivery executives on an asset-light basis, thus lowering delivery costs and emissions. This helped us become the leading tech-enabled EV-as-a-service platform and our contributions and presence in the market is well reputed.

Currently, we deliver groceries, medicines, meals, and e-commerce products from point A to point B using completely automated IoT and AI-enabled scooters that are low-maintenance and high-performance. We are currently only based out of India and are focusing on further strengthening our presence in the market. When we expand globally, similar kinds of services will also be offered to the larger market.

DQ: As the funding slows down, how can startups building for India keep pace?

Akash Gupta: The Indian EV industry is a promising segment. Owing to this, we are getting attention from investors, which can be noticed by the amount and the frequency of funding being secured by EV players.

The rate at which funding is taking place might pace out but I believe that if your business model is strong and is built on basic principles like affordability, profitability while also ensuring EBITDA positive results, then any business will be investable regardless of how old or new it is. Today, in the industry being EBITDA positive is very significant in the growth and we continue to scale our business in that direction.

DQ: With global supply chain hindrance and Make in India still taking off, how should one manage semiconductors shortage, raw material shortage and hardware shortage?

Akash Gupta: From chips to semiconductors to low-cost spare parts, India has significant manufacturing potential that can address these manufacturing challenges. The shortage can be marked as a unique potential for start-ups to build and manufacture these spare parts.