Milagrow founder Rajeev Karwal, man behind Made-in-India robots, dies of Covid 19
Milagrow’s robots were of significance during Covid times as some hospitals started using Milagrow’s robots to shield doctors and healthcare care workers from the virus.
Rajeev Karwal, founder Chairman of Milagrow Robots, died of Covid 19 on Wednesday morning after he was on ventilator support for almost a week. Karwal was known for his contribution to the Indian electronics and technology space. He was known for his brand-building efforts at LG, ONIDA, Philips and Electrolux, where he became part of the senior management. He was known transforming LG Corp as their VP of Sales and Marketing. He also worked as the president and CEO of Reliance Digital for a year before he founded Milagrow in 2007. Milagrow was set up in 2007 for management consultancy and by 2012 the company transitioned to making robots for residential and industrial use.
Milagrow’s robots were of significance during Covid times as hospitals started using Milagrow’s humanoid to help doctors. The first hospital humanoid ELF was deployed in the advanced COVID-19 ward at AIIMS, Delhi to shield doctors and healthcare care workers from the virus.
Karwal, in his recent interviews, had spoken about Milagrow’s growth, which did well in the backdrop of the pandemic as the demand for robots increased for house help as well as for educational purposes. He had said that robots replaced 80 per cent of the labour formerly employed tasks like cleaning windows, and swimming pools. He had also noted that Milagorw surpassed its 2019 turnover in the first four months of 2020, with sales in the first half of August equalling half its sales in the previous four months.
Karwal’s career spanned over three decades as an entrepreneur. Crunchbase defines Karwal as “perhaps the only senior executive in the Consumer Durables space in India to have had manufacturers view as well as that of a consumer electronics retailer.” In the early 2000s, Karwal rose as an entrepreneur and was referred to as the poster boy of the consumer durables industry. Karwal was an IMT Ghaziabad alumnus and was among the toppers in his batch.
In 2004, Karwal debuted in the Economic Times India’s Most Powerful CEOs list and was featured in Business Today’s Top 25 Hot Young Rising Stars of India Inc in 2002. In 2001 he won India’s Young Manager Trophy, awarded by Confederation of Indian Industry. In 2000 he was voted one of the Stars of the Millennium by Business India. He also won multiple Philips International Leadership Grand Prix Championships.