Most RFID hardware in India is imported. This startup changed that—and is now building indigenous payment tech that could power ATMs, metros, and POS machines.
In a space dominated by imports, Ahmedabad-based deep-tech startup Rapid Radio is quietly rewriting India’s RFID hardware story. While most companies assemble or import components, Rapid Radio has taken a harder route, designing and manufacturing RFID hardware entirely in-house, a rarity in India’s electronics ecosystem.
The problem they are solving is structural. India’s RFID ecosystem used in tolls, EV charging, factories, and retail relies heavily on foreign hardware that is either expensive or inflexible. This makes customisation difficult and limits adoption in complex environments like metal-heavy factories. Rapid Radio’s answer: a fully integrated, customizable RFID module that combines reader, antenna, and connectivity into a single system, reducing cost, improving reliability, and enabling rapid deployment.
In conversation with Mr Dhaval Kotecha, Managing Director of Rapid Radio, he stated that “When we started, India didn’t have a single company building RFID hardware end-to-end. Today, our focus is not just to replace imports, but to enable other companies to build better products on top of our technology.”
What sets them apart is not just manufacturing, but deep engineering innovation. The team has solved long-standing industry challenges, such as RFID failure in metallic environments, by rethinking antenna tuning and the physics of real-world deployment. Instead of avoiding difficult use cases, they adapted the technology to work within them—unlocking new industrial applications.
Dhaval further said, “Our next big leap is fintech. Just like RFID, payment hardware in India is largely imported we see a massive opportunity to build indigenous modules that can power everything from POS machines to EV charging and transit systems.” Their positioning is equally unconventional. Rather than selling directly to consumers, the startup acts as a “backend enabler” for other companies, powering solutions for large players across EV, automation, and healthcare. This “kingmaker” model allows them to scale across industries without competing with their own customers. Now, the startup is making its boldest move yet, entering the fintech hardware space. With India pushing for domestic alternatives, Rapid Radio is building contactless payment modules compatible with systems like RuPay, aiming to replace imported POS and transit payment hardware.
To learn more about this in detail, stay tuned for the full interview, which will be posted soon.
