Evolving Horizons: How Arahas Leverages Advanced Technologies and Strategic Partnerships to Drive Sustainability and Resilience

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Saurabh Rai, CEO, Arahas.

Over the years, Arahas has continuously evolved, driven by a desire to address some of the most pressing challenges faced by our society and planet. Our journey started with a focus on geospatial analytics, helping communities and governments better understand their landscapes and resources. With the advancement of geospatial, space, and drone policies, we’ve been able to expand the scope of our services significantly. These policy frameworks have opened new doors, allowing us to collect more precise data and deliver faster, more accurate insights. By integrating AI into our offerings, we’ve moved from simply providing data to creating anticipatory models for disaster management, sustainable urban growth, and environmental protection. These technologies allow us to make data driven predictions and decisions, ensuring communities and governments are better prepared for the future.

Sustainability is woven into the fabric of everything we do at Arahas. We see the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) as a roadmap for how technology can serve humanity. Thanks to the evolution of geospatial and drone policies, we are able to deploy advanced monitoring systems that track key environmental indicators in real-time, from deforestation to water levels, supporting SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation). Moreover, our projects strongly align with SDG 13 (Climate Action). For example, the Ayodhya Sustainability Index integrates geospatial analytics, AI, and real-time environmental monitoring to measure air quality, water resources, and green cover. This ensures that Ayodhya and other cities can plan for climate-resilient futures, mitigating the effects of climate change while promoting sustainable urbanization.

Our Sustainability City Index, which leverages satellite data, drones, and AI, helps cities across the globe plan smarter, greener futures that align with SDG 11—building sustainable and resilient urban spaces. By integrating our tech solutions with these global frameworks, we ensure that we are part of a larger, collective mission to protect the planet, fight climate change, and improve lives.

Partnerships have always been a cornerstone of Arahas’ growth and innovation. A particularly notable example is our collaboration with government agencies in implementing projects that utilize the latest geospatial, space, and drone policies. These partnerships allow us to leverage satellite imagery and drone surveillance to monitor infrastructure, predict natural disasters, and even assess environmental degradation in real time. For instance, our work with global tech giants and urban local bodies on the Ayodhya Sustainable City Initiative and Howrah Bridge Monitoring would not have been possible without these policy advancements. By aligning with institutions such as UNIDO AIM, and working hand in hand with these diverse partners, we’ve been able to expand our capabilities and make a more profound impact on sustainability and resilience efforts.

The future of geospatial technology and AI lies in their ability to address global challenges in a more integrated and intelligent manner. Evolving space and drone policies will play a crucial role in enabling this vision. My belief is that these technologies will create smarter, more adaptable cities—cities that not only predict challenges like climate change and rapid urbanization but also dynamically respond to them in real time. With more advanced drone surveillance and satellite imagery made possible by these policies, we can monitor environmental changes with unprecedented accuracy. Combined with AI, this data will enable cities to predict floods, droughts, or even infrastructural failures, allowing for preventative actions rather than reactive ones. This technology will reshape urban planning, disaster management, and sustainability, helping us create cities that are not just sustainable but actively regenerative.

The next five years will see a significant deepening of AI’s integration with geospatial technology, thanks to advancements in geospatial, space, and drone policies. One of the most exciting trends will be real time urban monitoring, where AI driven geospatial analytics provide cities with live data on everything from traffic patterns to pollution levels. With the support of evolving policies, drones and satellites will offer hyper localized insights, making urban management more efficient and responsive. Another emerging trend is the rise of automated disaster response systems, where drones equipped with AI can rapidly assess damage, track recovery progress, and even deliver aid in hard-to-reach areas. As policies continue to evolve, these technologies will become more sophisticated, enabling us to address global challenges with greater agility and precision.

Our strategic priorities for the coming years include deepening our impact in sustainability and resilience, while continuing to innovate in the AI and geospatial space. We are closely monitoring how geospatial, space, and drone policies evolve globally, as they directly influence how we collect and analyse data. One priority is to scale our Sustainability City Index to more regions worldwide, empowering more cities to make data driven decisions that benefit both people and the environment. We also plan to enhance our disaster management solutions, incorporating new AI models and drone-based surveillance to improve response times and precision. Staying ahead in this competitive landscape means continuously pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI and geospatial technology, while remaining grounded in our commitment to ethical innovation and ESG principles.

Geospatial technology, particularly when combined with advances in space and drone policies, has played a transformative role in digital land modernization in India. One of the most impactful areas has been in land record digitization. Using satellite imagery and drone surveillance, we’ve been able to map land boundaries with exceptional precision, reducing conflicts and ensuring accuracy in ownership records. For instance, in several states, we’ve worked with governments to digitize land records, which has significantly streamlined processes for landowners and reduced disputes. In urban planning, geospatial technology has enabled us to create detailed 3D models of cities, which help planners visualize future growth, allocate resources effectively, and ensure infrastructure development is aligned with sustainable practices. These technologies are modernizing not just land records but also the way we think about and build our cities.