Mumbai Startup Builds Chip for India's Own GPS System

India launched its own GPS alternative years ago, but until now, almost no phones could actually use it.

MumbaiSemi, founded in 2024 by IIT Bombay researchers, just solved that problem. The Mumbai startup built DhruvaPro, a receiver chip that lets devices pick up signals from NavIC, India's satellite navigation system developed by ISRO.

Here's why it matters. India's NavIC satellites have been circling overhead since 2018, covering the country and surrounding region. The system exists so Indian navigation doesn't depend on GPS or other foreign networks. But satellites are useless if devices can't hear them, and the chips that do that listening have always come from a handful of companies, almost none in India.

Dr. Vijay Kanchetla and Professor Rajesh Zele spent years working on the technology before commercializing it. Kanchetla earned his doctorate in radio frequency circuit design at IIT Bombay after working at Intel. Zele teaches electrical engineering and holds a doctorate from Carnegie Mellon.

The chip does something clever. Instead of needing separate hardware for different satellite systems, DhruvaPro tunes itself across multiple frequencies. One chip works with NavIC, GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou with no physical changes required.

The technical challenge was massive. Satellite signals arrive incredibly faint, buried under electronic noise. The team's design filters out that noise and amplifies the navigation signal roughly 400,000 times before converting it to digital, all on a single chip.

The Ripple Effect

This technology could reshape how navigation works across India. Fewer external components around the chip means smaller, cheaper receiver modules for device makers. That makes it economically feasible to include NavIC support in everyday phones and gadgets.

The work started as a government-funded research project called Dhruva, built by students in Zele's laboratory. The first working silicon arrived from the foundry in December 2019, designed entirely by students in 18 months. Their research appeared in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques in 2022, giving it serious academic credibility.

IIT Bombay recognized the achievement with its Dr. P. K. Patwardhan Technology Development Award for 2024. The company is incubated at SINE, the institute's technology business incubator, and received pre-seed funding to commercialize the chip.

MumbaiSemi showcased the technology at Bharat Innovates in Nice in June 2024, seeking partners in communications and navigation. The company is still early stage and hasn't announced customers or revenue yet, but the chip is silicon-proven, meaning it's been fabricated and tested in the real world.

India built the satellites, and now India has built the chip to hear them.