Yesterday, I had the honour of being invited by the Ministry of MSME to receive an award from Dr. Rajnish, Additional Secretary, Ministry of MSME . Five MSMEs were selected from a pool of nearly 740 funded startups and MSMEs supported through the SRI (Self‑Reliant India) Fund to present our journeys.
Standing on that stage, I realised this was not just recognition of a company, but of a long, sometimes uncomfortable journey of persistence, belief, and patience.
The Aditya Chapter: Where It All Began
I began by taking the audience back to Aditya, India’s first solar ferry. Aditya was not just a boat — it was a question posed to an industry: Can clean technology work reliably at scale, in public transport, in real Indian operating conditions?
The early years were hard. We were building technology before there was an ecosystem to support it. Supply chains were thin, financing was cautious, and every decision carried risk. But Aditya sailed. And more importantly, it kept sailing — quietly proving that electric and solar boats were not experiments, but infrastructure.
Capital That Changes Trajectory
A defining shift in our journey came with the investment from BanyanTree Capital, a daughter fund of the SRI Fund. This was not just capital — it was patient, mission‑aligned capital.
Before this support, we were typically building ten boats at a time, carefully managing working capital and risk. Post funding, our scale changed decisively. Today, we are executing projects of 35 boats in parallel.
That change is visible not just in numbers, but in people. Our team has grown from 150 to over 250, spanning engineering, manufacturing, operations, and after‑sales support. This is what real industrial scale looks like — jobs created alongside technology.
Building for the Next Phase
Scale brings responsibility. To support our next phase of growth, we are now setting up:
- A new, larger boatyard to handle higher volumes and more complex vessels
- A significantly expanded battery manufacturing facility, critical for safety, localisation, and cost control
At the same time, our product roadmap is expanding.
We are actively developing high‑speed, flying electric boats and green electric tugs — vessels that push boundaries not as demonstrations, but as commercially viable workhorses. As always, our guiding principle remains unchanged: technology must be robust and make economic sense, or it does not belong on the water.
Why the SRI Fund Matters
What the SRI Fund represents — and what this award reaffirmed — is the importance of long‑term thinking in deep‑tech and manufacturing. These are sectors where impact compounds slowly but decisively, and where equity capital must understand engineering, risk, and time.
The future ahead is exciting, but it is also grounded. Grounded in lessons learned, systems built, and trust earned — boat by boat.
Receiving this recognition from the Ministry of MSME was a moment to pause, reflect, and then get back to work. As part of this honour, I have also been invited as a special guest to the Republic Day celebrations — something that carries a deeply personal significance for me. Like many of us, I grew up watching the Republic Day parade on television, year after year, never imagining that one day I would witness it in person. The thought of being there, representing a manufacturing startup built boat by boat over many years, fills me with excitement and gratitude.
Because the most important part of this journey is still ahead.
Sandith Thandasherry 