A brand new technology of inventors is being impressed by India’s battle in opposition to poisonous air. Throughout the nation, entrepreneurs and scientists are turning to know-how to sort out certainly one of India’s most cussed public well being challenges. In line with a latest Lancet report, polluted air was linked to greater than 1.7 million deaths in 2022 – practically a 3rd of the worldwide toll. The report positioned air air pollution amongst India’s high danger components for untimely mortality, overtaking causes similar to tobacco and malnutrition.
Whereas public focus stays on the gray smog choking cities every winter, research present that indoor air may be as much as thrice extra polluted. Site visitors-linked PM2.5 infiltration, unstable natural compounds from paints and furnishings, and insufficient air flow have made properties and places of work more and more unsafe. But, air high quality continues to be an afterthought for a lot of Indian households.
From luxurious to necessity: A altering clean-air market
With worsening air high quality now a year-round problem, India’s clean-air trade is present process a metamorphosis. The marketplace for air purifiers, as soon as restricted to premium households in main metros, is increasing quickly. Business estimates recommend that the sector might develop at a compound annual fee of round 16 per cent, as rising consciousness drives new demand throughout demographics.
This shift has opened the door to smaller, smarter, and extra transportable purification units designed for crowded cities and each day use. Atovio, based by IIT and IIM alumni Anmay Sahlot, Siddharth Gupta, and Aditi Gupta, is among the many startups main this shift. By designing compact, energy-efficient, and regionally manufactured options, the corporate goals to make clear air accessible to all.
“India’s clean-air dialog is evolving from luxurious to necessity,” says Sahlot. “What as soon as appeared like a seasonal concern has turn into a year-round actuality. The way forward for air safety lies in personalisation, empowering people to take cost of their very own air high quality, wherever they’re.”
Bridging innovation with consciousness
Atovio’s mission goes past constructing air-quality units. By its consciousness marketing campaign BeyondAQI, the corporate is educating individuals easy methods to learn and make sense of air-quality knowledge, serving to them resolve, for example, when it’s safer to go for a run exterior or how greatest to maintain their properties ventilated. The thought is straightforward: empower residents to grasp the dangers and make on a regular basis selections that defend their well being.
By pairing innovation with consciousness, Atovio represents a brand new method of tackling air pollution, one which recognises know-how alone can’t repair the issue. Actual progress, the corporate believes, additionally will depend on individuals understanding the problem and altering how they reply to it.
A wearable resolution for India’s air drawback
Atovio’s flagship machine, the Atovio Pebble, embodies this new route. Validated by IIT Kanpur, the wearable air purifier has been proven to scale back PM2.5, PM10, and customary allergens whereas sustaining zero ozone emissions, a serious differentiator in a market the place a number of units nonetheless launch hint ozone. The Pebble has already reached over 13,000 customers, with gross sales throughout 20 airports and main e-commerce platforms.
Its compact type issue, lengthy battery life, and native manufacturing make it fitted to Indian circumstances from lengthy commutes to poorly ventilated places of work. It represents a rising class of non-public clean-air units designed not only for consolation however for survival in polluted environments.
In the direction of a cleaner, smarter tomorrow
As India’s air high quality continues to say no, public well being, coverage, and personal innovation are starting to converge.
