I am sure this post will attract your attention! I am going to introduce you to two Indian startups – Gautam Polymers and Kotak Urja Pvt. Ltd. Both of these startups recently bagged awards at the India Semiconductor Association's (ISA) prestigious Technovation Awards 2010. Gautam Polymers was the winner in the category: ISA Best Electronics Product – Energy, while Kotak Urja received an Honorable Mention in the same category. First, Gautam Polymers. The company has developed a solid multi-lantern (solar LED lantern) for the rural as well as urban areas. The Solid Multilight is a well-designed solar LED lantern that maps itself to the way a rural user requires a light. It can be used in many forms – as a diffused general surround light, focused study/task light, handheld torch, handheld downward lantern, roof-mounted light, and can be used to charge mobile phones. Now, Kotak Urja. This company has developed a solar powered "Egg lamp." The product has been uniquely conceived and designed as a multi-utility solar lamp that will soon be introduced in the market. It claims to provide uninterrupted light through either a CFL or LED lamp, for a period of six hours daily, with a standby back up of an additional 10 hours. This product is a multi-utility lamp, helping to meet the rural energy requirements for light (surrounding, reading, ceiling) and as a portable torch. The Egg lamp can also be used for charging mobile phones and has a unique feature of FM radio with built-in antenna and speakers! Hope you have noted with interest that a solar LED lantern would also provide music! It shows what innovation can really do for you! Notice something similar here between the two companies? It is the excellent bonding of solar and LEDs into useful applications/products for the consumer market? This is something that I have been advocating for quite some time. Obviously, both companies have carefully looked at the India's National Solar Mission (NSM) document, which states a target of deploying 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022 – a number, I feel, is moderate. What's heartening are the very good attempts being made by several Indian startups, including these two firms, to develop products suitable for consumers – worldwide. Yes, these products are obviously going to be marketed and sold in the urban areas. However, the huge rural market in India is something both of these companies are eyeing.