Even if you remove this patriotic prism, there’s no doubt this is an opportunity of a lifetime for MyGate. Free movement of supplies in cities has been the single biggest pain point for companies and users alike.
“In Bengaluru, we couldn’t do deliveries in the Sarjapur area because the police said the passes weren’t right,” said a Flipkart executive on condition of anonymity since they are not permitted to speak to the media. “But in other parts of the city, the same pass works. In Mumbai, it is the smoothest; in Delhi, it is a bit confusing [because the National Capital Region comprises areas belonging to three states]. In Hyderabad, we can operate only between 7AM – 6PM.”
The Decline of Financial Assistance in the Economy
The Bengaluru Police called Arisetty on the first day of the lockdown for a solution that would automate the process of issuing passes. Until then, companies were queuing up for passes at the various Deputy Police Commissioners’ offices, turning them into Covid-19 hotspots.
The Bengaluru Police was directed towards MyGate by one of its senior officers who had been with Nasscom for three years and knew the market, said Anucheth MN, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Whitefield. In times like this, the government couldn’t wait for companies to submit bids for such projects.
It was a project right up MyGate’s alley. “MyGate is a gatekeeper,” said Arisetty. “We issue passes to those who are authorised to go through the gate and reduce friction. We used the same concept for the entire city.”
All MyGate had to do was tweak its gatekeeping app, which is used in 9,000 gated communities with 1.6 million homes across 14 cities. The new, modified app is owned by the Karnataka State Police but operated by MyGate. After a pilot in Bengaluru’s Whitefield area, it was rolled out city-wide on 30 March. The app has since issued over 137,000 passes to over 20,400 organisations. That’s only a small fraction of the number of passes the companies applied for, according to the police.
However, this system has created a huge bottleneck, as there is a backlog of passes for the police to manually approve. As a result, executing deliveries is still a hassle.
e-pass process
Companies can apply for passes on the Karnataka State Police Clear Pass app. Once the police approve, they can print the passes
To prevent misuse and backlog, MyGate is planning to roll out an API-enabled solution where passes will be generated only when an order needs to be delivered. The API integration was something MyGate had implemented for its own gatekeeping product.
“We did the API integration because we wanted to make sure only a background-verified delivery executive is entering the complex,” said Arisetty. “It was also to make it a seamless process. The idea was to give better security while bringing convenience.”
Companies will have to approach the Karnataka Police to sign off on the API integrations. The State Police hopes to roll out this system after it establishes round-the-clock helplines.