Entrepreneur India - Nesa Radiation Solutions - June 2013 FIGHT THAT WAVE - Concerned about cellphone tower radiation? NESA Radiation Solutions is here to help A SAFETY SHIELD NESA Radiation Solutions has found a way to protect its customers from cellphone tower radiation Neha Kumar shares a piece of data to give an idea of the problem she is tackling. The government regulation for the permissible levels of radiation from cellphone towers is the same as the amount of radiation a human body would absorb if it were kept inside a microwave oven for 19 minutes every day. Neha’s father, Girish Kumar, a professor at IIT-Bombay has worked on antenna technology and radiation related research for the last 30 years. A few years ago he developed health problems. “This was because of continued exposure to radiation as part of his work,” Kumar, 25, says. This got the duo thinking. Link: http://www.pdfmagaz.in/22165615-entrepreneur-india-june-2013/

1. Concerned about cellphone
tower radiation? NESA
Radiation Solutions is
here to help  PG 100
FIGHT
THAT
WAVE

2. N
eha Kumar shares a piece of
data to give an idea of the
problem she is tackling. The
government regulation for the permis-
sible levels of radiation from cellphone
towers is the same as the amount of
radiation a human body would absorb
if it were kept inside a microwave oven
for 19 minutes every day. Neha’s father,
Girish Kumar, a professor at IIT-Bombay
has worked on antenna technology and
radiation related research for the last
30 years. A few years ago he developed
health problems. “This was because of
continued exposure
to radiation as part
of his work,” Kumar,
25, says. This got the
duo thinking.
Kumar, a biotech-
nology graduate from
Anna University in
Chennai, found the
answer with Mumbai-
based NESA Radiation
Solutions Pvt. Ltd. in
November 2011, a firm
she set up on campus
at IIT-Bombay, which
makes household
[ tower tales ]
NESA Radiation Solutions has found a way to protect its customers
from cellphone tower radiation
Shruti Chakraborty
A SAFETY SHIELD
LIFE SAVER:
Neha Kumar
products that act as shielding solutions
from cell tower radiation.
Potent troubles
Earlier this year, the matter was
heard in the Supreme Court after the
Rajasthan High Court asked telecom
companies to remove cellphone towers
from school buildings and hospitals on
account of radiation from cell towers.
BioInitiative 2012, a report brought
out by 29 independent scientists and
health experts, cites the safe limit of
radiation from cellphone towers as
0.5 milliwatts
per square
meter. The
International
Commission on
Non-Ionizing
Radiation
Protection, an
independent
organization, puts out norms on per-
missible radiation limits for tower firms
at 4.5 watts per square meter in the
900 MHz frequency band. India’s limit
was brought down from 4.5 watts per
square meter in September 2012 to 0.45
watts after a government-appointed
inter-ministerial panel examining
India's norms cited several studies
linking health disorders to cell tower
radiation, where Girish also expressed
his concerns.
After graduating, Kumar researched
on the health impact of cellphone
tower radiation and met people living
close to these towers. They interacted
with government officials, educational
institutions, medical professionals
and residential societies about poten-
tial problems that could be triggered
by continued exposure to high levels
112 Intelligent Entrepreneur  June 2013
START UPS

3. of cellphone tower radiation. “When
we started talking about it, cellphone
operators were not happy. They have
a strong lobby and while they did not
completely realize the impact of cell-
phone tower radiation, they eventu-
ally just ignored it to let their business
interests prevail,” states Girish.
Health issues
“We found a strong correlation between
health problems and radiation levels,”
says Kumar, Director, NESA, referring
to their survey. The common health
issues were frequent headaches, dis-
turbed sleep, concentration and mem-
ory-related problems, joint pains, some
cases of miscarriages, cardiovascular
problems and cancer. “We found more
frequent cases of health problems in
areas where we measured radiation
levels of four to five watts,” she says.
Neela Bhinde, 63, stays in Vile
Parle in Mumbai in a house that is
about 20 meters from a cell phone
tower, installed six years ago. “My
husband and I both developed
cancer and there have been other
cases of cancer in our building,”
she says.
Shielding solutions
NESA first measured levels of
electromagnetic radiation in
homes and localities using a
device called Cell Tower Radiation
Detector Detex 189 which was later
launched commercially. Priced at
`4,950‚ it can measure radiation in
the 800 MHz to 2.5 GHz frequency
which includes Wi-Fi signals, tele-
vision tower signals, microwave
and cell tower radiation. Initially
they focussed on pushing the
government to bring down norms
but when people started asking
them for solutions, they decided to
develop shielding solutions. NESA
then developed three solutions in
the form of window film, curtains
and wallpaper. The technology
works with an antenna behind
each product that receives cell-
phone tower signals and converts
it to heat energy, through an AC
(alternating current) to DC (direct
current) adapter. The heat gener-
ated is mild to the tune of 0.0001
degree centigrade which then
dissipates into the environment.
Kumar refused to share details of
the material used in making the
product, as it is pending patent.
Talking tough
Introduced a year ago, NESA has
so far sold the window film to
150 customers. The curtains were
launched four months ago and
have been installed for about 50
customers. The most recent of
them all, the wallpaper solutions,
were introduced two months
ago. The pricing of each product
is based on the area that a cus-
tomer is looking to shield. For a
5x6 feet area, a window film is
priced at `4,500, a curtain costs
`7,000 while a wallpaper is sold for
around `8,250. Girish has self-
funded NESA with `5 lakh and
has raised investment of `1 crore
earlier this year from his raw mate-
rial vendor Chirag Vadilal Savla, in
exchange for 50 percent stake in the
startup. Savla is now a partner in
the business and also helps NESA
with manufacturing at their unit in
Vashi, on the outskirts of Mumbai.
In the last one year, the company
has clocked in revenues of `1 crore.
“We are going to continue market-
ing our product through word of
mouth and will look at setting up
a physical distribution chain at
a later stage,” says Kumar, who
also focusses on the biological
side of research. Girish handles
the technology, antenna and
radiation aspects. Besides this, he
also runs another venture called
Wilcom Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
which was incubated at Society for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship,
the business incubator at
IIT-Bombay. Girish says he uses the
entrepreneurial lessons he learnt
there to run NESA.
“WE FOUND MORE
FREQUENT CASES OF
HEALTH PROBLEMS
IN AREAS WHERE WE
MEASURED RADIA-
TION LEVELS OF FOUR
TO FIVE WATTS”
— NEHA KUMAR,
DIRECTOR, NESA RADIATION
SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD.
113Intelligent Entrepreneur  June 2013Photo Joshua Navalkar