IIT Kharagpur pilots a solar smart cart that street vendors can tow home at night

18 October 2026

IIT Kharagpur has inaugurated a pilot of Nagar Udyam, an initiative to take street vendors towards smart entrepreneurship, at the Technology Students' Gymkhana on its campus. The pilot was launched on Friday, October 16, 2026, in the presence of Prof. Suman Chakraborty, Director of IIT Kharagpur, and Shri Siddharth Singh Dangi, Sub Divisional Police Officer, Kharagpur, as chief guest. The initiative is part of the institute's Platinum Jubilee commitment. The convertible three-wheeler-inspired smart cart is conceived for towing by the owner's motorcycle and is designed around movement over distances of approximately 30 km, subject to operational and road-safety validation. It is a home-storable unit intended to avoid permanent occupation of public road space. The cart carries renewable energy enabled low-power functions with compact battery storage, a SETU digital backbone with QR-enabled identification and cashless payments, protected food display, food-grade surfaces and three-way waste segregation.