C-Dot aims to end reliance on govt grants in two years, targets ₹10,000 cr revenue in five years

Summary

C-Dot's target for the next two years is ₹6,000 crore, and for five years is ₹10,000 crore, chief executive officer Rajkumar Upadhyay.

The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-Dot), the government's 42-year-old telecom R&D arm and a key technology partner behind state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (BSNL) indigenous 4G network, aims to become self-sustaining within two years, targeting revenue of ₹6,000 crore. Having received ₹454 crore in government budgetary support in FY26, the organisation is banking on its 4G and 5G technologies, quantum-safe solutions, cybersecurity products and emergency alert systems to drive growth. In an interview with Mint, C-Dot chief executive officer Rajkumar Upadhyay outlines the ambitious roadmap. Edited excerpts:

You are dependent on the government for funds. Given the growth in revenue, when do you expect to become self-sustaining?

Initially, we were primarily dependent on the government. Even though we have gone from ₹80 crore to ₹621 crore in revenue over the years, I am not satisfied because the potential of this organisation is ₹10,000 crore, given the kind of technology we have. Our target for the next two years is ₹6,000 crore, and for five years is ₹10,000 crore.

Currently, the grant, which the government gives, is around 50% and the balance we get from our internal revenues. In the next two years, we should be sustainable, we should not be dependent on government grants, because the technology we have developed over the years has matured, and they are all deployed in India and not lab products.

What are the building blocks that will help C-DOT achieve this target?

Our revenues will come primarily from mobile because 4G,5G, what we have developed, will soon find markets abroad. Cell broadcast (public emergency alert system) we have already trialed in four countries that are very close to commercial deployment. Quantum is a full global market because we are on par with the world. So, disaster management, cyber and quantum will be our primary responsibility for generating revenue.

We are a great technology company, but marketing was a concern for us. We have recruited one chief marketing officer from the industry. Now we have come up with our partner policy, wherein we appoint partners for lead generation, we give them a certain percentage of the revenue if they bring leads. We are onboarding SIs (system integrators) who we can give a revenue share of 30% of what they sell. For hardware products, we already have a technology transfer policy which gives us a 4-8% royalty.

When do you expect quantum-safe technologies to pick up in the country?

Quantum computers are expected to come up by 2030. If that has to happen, people have to get ready. The problem is that even if we don't have quantum computers today, I can tap your channel, store it and decrypt it later. Some information is so sensitive that critical sectors must protect themselves. We have set very clear targets for the country. For critical sectors, 2029 is our target, and for the rest of the sectors, 2033. If we have to achieve this by 2029, I have to act today because the primary requirement for becoming Quantum-safe is to get your cryptographic inventory. The systems are old and working from the 1980s, and we need to replace these with quantum-safe systems. The early adopters will be banks, power, defence sectors.

There have been quality concerns around BSNL indigenous 4G. What more needs to be done?

Whenever you develop new technology, some teething troubles always come but they are all behind us now. If this software does not work, if there are problems, people would have left by now. BSNL is actually adding customers. This is a testimony that the technology is working and to the satisfaction of customers.

When can we expect a 5G standalone (SA) system for BSNL?

Trials are happening in BSNL for 5G. We are completely ready with a 5G non-standalone architecture (NSA) core for BSNL, but radios are not 5G NSA currently. On SA systems, both the core and radio, we should be out in the next 3-4 months. (In NSA, 5G uses the existing 4G core network along with 5G technology. In SA, 5G runs on a dedicated 5G core network, enabling advanced features and services.)

The next technology we are giving to BSNL is the IP multimedia system (IMS) that is required for SD (super definition) voice calling. Voice calling happens through IMS, data calling happens through 4G.