Hunny Bhagchandani: Future-forward thinking

Image: Mexy Xavier; Directed By: Kapil Kashyap Outfit: Nm Design Studio; Styled By: Zainab Shakir; Assistant Stylists: Mannat Bhalla, Samridh Gupta

Hunny Bhagchandani | 28

Founder, Torchit

Hunny Bhagchandani started Torchit with a simple idea: To create innovations that will help persons with disabilities. About 150 million people in India suffer from some form of disability, he says, adding that “accessibility is not a special privilege but a basic right”, and it is important to design devices that are within reach for people from all walks of life.  

Seven years ago, the Ahmedabad resident launched his first product Saarthi, a device to help blind or visually impaired people detect obstacles in their way. Other products include Jyoti AI (artificial intelligence) glasses, which features an optical character recognition system that supports multiple languages. A visually impaired person wearing this smart glass, for instance, can hold up a newspaper, and the glass will transcribe the text into audio for them to hear. Or while the person is walking on the street, this glass can also describe events, people or obstacles on the way. Another product is the VOIS smart gloves that enable hearing and speech impaired people to communicate without the need to use sign language.  

Bhagchandani has so far sold his innovations to over 150,000 people. Torchit, which has an investment of $600,000 with a blend of grants and impact venture capital investments, clocked a revenue of $710,000 in FY23. It has partnered with over 300 non-profits, 70 corporates, and organisations like World Bank, MIT and Tata Trusts, apart from working with Gujarat government and the Government of India.