Panasonic India, through its IoT and AI enabled home automation platform, Miraie, is looking at making home automation a way of life in average urban homes in India.
"We want to cater to a larger set of people and bring convenience and safety to people's lives. Less than 5 per cent of the population in India would have automation at home. We would like to see 30-40 per cent of Indians having automation in their homes in some form," says Dinesh Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, Panasonic Life Solutions India.
Home automation in India currently comes at a huge premium, with global brands such as Legrand and Schneider Electric offering solutions in the region of Rs 25-30 lakh.
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"We also have solutions at those price points, however, an average consumer on Miraie, can get end-to-end home automation solutions for less than Rs 5 lakh. We want to make our service aspirational," explains Aggarwal. He says that a consumer on Miraie can get a basic automation solution that would control the light fixtures in her living room for as low as Rs 20,000.
The Made In India home automation platform from Panasonic, which was rolled out last year, in the first phase launched smart sockets, switches and air-conditioners. A consumer could download the Miraie application on her smart phone or tablet to monitor her lights and fans at home when she was outside, and even switch on the air-conditioner 15-20 minutes before she entered her home. The consumer durable major has now launched connected refrigerators, washing machines, WiFi fans, controller plugs and switches.
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"We will also add motion sensors, gas sensors, fire and smoke sensors. We have created one interface, where you can control your lights, curtains, appliances, all on a single interface," Aggarwal further explains. The Miraie application can also be operated through voice assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant as well as on smart Android TVs. It is available in Hindi and Tamil and would soon be available in Telugu, Marathi and Bengali.
Though Miraie solutions are available at the Panasonic brand stores and on marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart, Aggarwal also expects real estate developers to contribute to the adoption of Miraie.
In order to democratise the concept of home automation, Aggarwal says that the company also intends to allow other brands with smart automation products to be part of its platform.
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