Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj once proclaimed, “Freedom is a boon, which everyone has the right to receive.” On a similar line, Swami Vivekananda said, “The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.”
Combined, these two nobler thoughts lead to the noblest of philosophies of freedom and social equality for all, irrespective of their religion, language, caste, creed, class, socio-economic, demographic, and political-apolitical status. However, what about those chained by the shackles of the urban-rural divide, poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, inequality and generational apathy?
Inspired by the thoughts and the ideologies of Swami Vivekananda and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mr Hanmantrao R Gaikwad, a firm believer in serving humanity and making a meaningful and positive difference in society, thought long and hard. And bravo! He came up with a unique solution: Bharat Vikas Group –BVG India Limited, a social business enterprise of integrated facility management and one of India’s largest Integrated Service companies.
Today, it is impacting more than 7.5 million lives by spreading humanity across 25 states and union territories and over a hundred cities. It is a unique organization that enhances the skills of the poor, unemployed people and creates job opportunities for them.
In other words, BVG or Bharat Vikas Group is dedicated to Indian society’s all-around progress and growth. It has been serving in this mission for over the last two decades in anything and everything in any scale facility management. In short, BVG India Limited is humanity’s real change-maker.
BVG: Humanity Ahead
Behind every company, there is a thought, dream, and a story that constitute its inception, ideologies, and objectives. BVG India was founded around two decades ago with a vision and two socially-inclined goals of developing India and helping the poor and the needy.
Humanity! It is the foremost factor that drives BVGs ideologies, thoughts, actions, mission, and vision. For BVG, humanity comes first before everything. Everything it envisions, decides and does, is towards the betterment of humanity. It respects social needs such as empowerment through education and employment. Accordingly, it runs initiatives that help the underprivileged and needy sections of society develop skills and seek employment. That’s how it contributes its bit towards the service of the nation.
BVG India Limited is a responsible and visionary organization aiming to contribute to India’s overall growth and progress. BVG India is not merely a profit-oriented company. It is an organization with a benevolent approach and a broad thought that intends to positively impact the lives of a hundred million people by 2030 through education, employment, and empowerment.
Mr Gaikwad states, “We are not merely a profit-making or a service-based enterprise. Instead, we are a socially responsible and concerned organization aiming to make the world a better place to live through extensive R&D and breakthrough innovations across various essential and critical areas concerning society and the environment.
Although our journey began with smaller facility management projects, we did not confine ourselves to facility management. Over the last two decades, we’ve spread our wings to venture into other areas as well.”
Over the years, BVG has successfully ventured into many service areas and proved its mettle to become a credible service partner. Currently, BVG India’s focus service areas include Integrated Facility Management, Emergency Response Services, Solid Waste Management, and Special Projects.
Integrated Facility Management: BVG provides integrated facility management service and ensures that your facility and premises stay well maintained at all times. It serves in more than 1100 sites. BVG India is a trustworthy and largest Integrated facility management company in India (Source – F&S Report) with over two decades of rich and varied experience.
As one of the most experienced facility management companies in India, BVG India offers various facility management services. While continuing to grow as a service provider, it has always been open to adopting emerging technologies and meeting the evolving facility management needs of public and private organizations. Today, it handles a vast portfolio of clients within the government and corporate sectors. It provides value added-services with technology-based transparency to our valued clients.
BVGs services consolidate all your requirements under a single management team thus helping you save costs; reduced vendor management efforts and enjoy effective facility management services.
Emergency Response Service: When an emergency strikes, you need someone who responds to you quickly and sends help in the shortest duration possible. “At BVG India, we understand the criticality of emergency responses. Accordingly, we have developed emergency response teams that provide assistance, aid and emergency services across multiple situations.
Currently, our outreach includes Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. However, we are rapidly covering other places in India. We cover two crucial areas under our emergency services – emergency police services and emergency medical services. Until now, we’ve assisted nearly eight million people with our emergency response services. In a way, we have contributed to minimizing damage across various forms,” shares Mr Gaikwad.
BVG leverages technology and expertise to ensure prompt emergency responses to mitigate damage and save lives. Recently, it has provided emergency medical services in Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
BVGs medical emergency infrastructure comprises over 1,400 well-equipped and well-maintained ambulances and a highly qualified and experienced emergency medical response team. It created the emergency response helpline 108 to enable people in need of emergency services to connect with the concerned response teams.
To date, the BVG team has handled thousands of individual and mass medical emergencies and helped save several lives through our prompt services. It has developed an efficient human and tech-driven organized medical emergency service process that ensures quick response through only essential questions asked.
Maharashtra
Until October 2021, BVG has served over 6.5 million across various emergency situations such as accidents, assaults, burns, cardiac, falls, intoxication/ poisoning, labour pains, shock, mass casualties, medical emergencies, polytrauma, suicide and other situations. The highest ones among these have been medical and labour emergencies.
Jammu and Kashmir
Mr Gaikwad reveals, “We launched our Medical Emergency Services in Jammu and Kashmir in March 2020. Our services cover 22 districts in the UTs of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. We cover medical emergencies in Jammu and Kashmir under two projects – 108 and 102.”
The essential features of both the projects are,
Project 102
- A fleet of 300 Patient Transfer Ambulances
- 24/7 Emergency Response Center
- Team of 1100 professionals supporting the project
- Over 17,000 cases support from inception to June 2021
Project 108
- Fleet of 143 ambulances
- One emergency case is handled about every 10 minutes
- 24/7 Emergency Response Center
- Trained over 1200 professionals, including EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), Pilot (Ambulance Driver), and ERO (Emergency Response Office)
- Over 67,000 emergencies served from March 2020 to June 2021
BVG has also provided emergency Police services in Madhya Pradesh. Through these efforts so far, it has saved 6.7 million lives.
Solid Waste Management: BVG uses the latest tools and technologies to collect, transport, treat and manage waste. Its daily waste management capability is 3000 metric tonnes.
Mr Gaikwad shares, “Our customer base across niche and marquee clients in Government and Private segment are all leaders in their segment.”
Mr Hanmantrao R Gaikwad, Chairman and Managing Director, BVG India Limited
BVG India is a firmly rooted and benevolent organization. Its history can be traced back to 1993, when Mr Hanmantrao Ramdas Gaikwad, its chairperson and propelling force, launched Bharat Vikas Pratishthan.
The primary motive of Bharat Vikas Pratishthan was to empower rural youngsters by helping them use their skills and services to benefit various companies, earn a living from those skills and pursue their dreams.
Back then, Mr Gaikwad started projects with small requirements, the first of which was Tata Motors (formerly known as TELCO). The visionary wanted to help his village youth find employment and tried to rope them into TELCO for housekeeping. And while working in the company, Mr Gaikwad saved Rs. 2.5 crores for the organization by recycling some wires for the project. To recognize his outstanding efforts, the management offered increment and promotion to Mr Gaikwad. However, Mr Gaikwad, a social entrepreneur at his heart and mind, instead told the management that he does not want either increment or promotion but wants his village friends to get employed in the organization.
However, that was not possible considering TELCO’s employment policies demanded hiring people only through a Trust. So, Mr Gaikwad established Bharat Vikas Pratishthan and got his eight friends employed in it. This small step and thought proved to be a giant leap for Bharat Vikas Pratishthan!
In 1997, the NGO blossomed into BVG India. This full-fledged company steadily climbed up the success ladder with the help of its excellent services, the ability to undertake various types of projects, and Mr Gaikwad’s Yes, we will do it approach.
Mr Gaikwad says, “Our company’s turnover grew multiple folds YoY, and we kept adding clients from various cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc., to our portfolio, purely through references and recommendations.”
The year 2003 proved to be another breakthrough period for BVG India. “We won the contract for mechanized cleaning of Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Hon’ble PM’s residence. Later, we also bagged contracts for reputed companies such as Mahindra, Volkswagen, Fiat, Bajaj, Hyundai, Hindustan Lever, ONGC, and many others,” adds Mr Gaikwad.
Thus, BVG has grown from strength to strength and has contributed its bit toward the country’s development over the years. Today, it has ventured into several other areas such as waste management, emergency services, renewable energy, and many others to enhance its contributions. Currently, it employs over 55,000 people. The team BVG is sure that under Mr Gaikwad’s humane leadership, the group will achieve all of its objectives and continue making quality contributions to the growth of Indian society.
BVG has constantly been working hard across various sectors with supreme quality in Integrated Facility Management. BVG India Limited is enjoying the highest market share in the IFM segment.
Mr Gaikwad reveals, “We want to positively impact the lives of 100 million people by 2030 through various services. We also focus on providing employment opportunities for uneducated rural youth.”
Business Solution Pricing USP
Today, BVG handles a vast portfolio of clients within the government and corporate sectors. It provides value added-services with technology-based transparency to its valued clients. BVG is synonymous with Hygiene and Trust.
“We work on a very straightforward ideology of believing in our capabilities and strengths,” says Mr Gaikwad.
BVG India Limited offers various Facility Management Services comprising Soft, Hard and Specialized services across 35 sectors.
Soft Services – mechanized housekeeping, industrial housekeeping, workforce supply, beach cleaning, security services and janitorial services. Hard Services – electromechanical works and highway maintenance. Specialized Services – paint-shop cleaning and logistics management to clients in several sectors.
Mr Gaikwad puts it, “At BVG India, we take our commitments seriously and work towards delivering the value our clients, stakeholders, and society expects from us. Our technical expertise across various domains, including environment, waste management, facility management, etc. Our objective and vision to contribute to a sustainable future make us a preferred social corporate partner and a promising avenue to invest and believe in.”
BVG India Limited’s business is based on the business solution pricing model, offering ‘Bundled and Integrated Services. It seeks to operate through output-based and/or fixed billing contracts to optimise resource allocation.
Its services are offered across various Industries catering to – Auto, Pharma, Oil and Gas, Steel, Chemical, Home Appliances, Food; Hospitals; Transport that includes airports (operates 15 airports in India), Metro Systems, Bus Depots and Railways; Education Institutes; Banks; Residential and Central and State Government Establishments.
Special Projects
Mr Gaikwad informs, “We feel the special projects we undertake are an opportunity for us to contribute to society and to the nation more significantly and impactfully. To date, we have undertaken and successfully completed special projects such as Smart City development, horticultural projects, environment conservation, etc. across various cities in India. Our clients within this area include municipal corporations and councils.”
Smart City Project in Gujarat
BVG India has successfully completed a Smart City in Gujarat. Our project scope included several challenging tasks such as design, construction, commissioning and handing over along with facility management and operation and maintenance for five years for integrated development and rejuvenation of a lake area in a city in Gujarat.
Some of the prominent features of the project include,
- Development of various gardens around the lake and STP area
- Establishment of a 4 MLD STP plant
- Development of pathways and cycle track
- Construction of proper water channels
- Wall retention
- Construction of compound walls
- Development of boating area
- Developing solar systems
Core Business of Non-Core Activities
As a “one-stop-shop” service provider, BVG India provides turnkey, customised and specialised solutions to its clients under one roof. “We emphasise combining services and establishing a one-stop service provider for our clients. We prefer to handle our client’s non-core activities as our core business,” says Mr Gaikwad.
Breaking the Challenges
The Facility Service business is a very low barrier entry business, and more than 50% market is handled by the unorganized sector. To overcome the competition from unorganized players in Facility services, BVG has enhanced the service offer and created an Integrated/Bundled service model with a unique pricing model.
BVG became the largest player in Integrated Facility Management Services with robust corporate governance and government push for compliances.
Along with technological advancements that provide customers with a unique transparency experience, BVG also ventured into Emergency Response Services, Solid Waste Management and Projects Business.
BVG Next
Being an experienced leader, when asked how technology is transforming the industry and what advancements can we expect in the future, Mr Gaikwad said that while continuing to grow as a service provider, BVG has always been open to adopting emerging technologies and meeting the evolving facility management needs of public and private organizations. It uses SAP HANA and several web-based online Site level operational, CRM, and customer experience management tools. Mr Gaikwad shares, “Our near paperless On-boarding, payroll process and MIS system support us in our proactive response for customer service.”
According to Mr Gaikwad, companies cannot remain aloof or distance themselves from future-defining technologies amidst the age of technology. No matter what, every domestic or global organization will have to embrace technologies. Besides, the fact that technology creates a massive amount of business opportunities is something undeniable.
BVG Next is a futuristic concept that leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. This initiative will be AI-Enabled and Digitally Empowered. We intend to add value to people’s lives through a few digitally-enabled platforms. Some of them include
Social Entrepreneurial Wisdom
Mr Gaikwad’s advice to the aspirants who are willing to venture into the field of the Facility Management sector is full of social entrepreneurial wisdom. He says that, as mentioned earlier, the entry barrier in the Facility service business is very low; by creating differentiators in services portfolio and customer experience, one can generate niche demand.
Mr Gaikwad concludes, “However, technology, automation and robust compliance and governance will help sustain and grow the business.”
