Protective security technologies

01 Apr 2019 Editorial Team

Today, “some of the most securely built and managed buildings deploy a biometric solution in conjunction with facial recognition cameras, and integrate these with the building management system,” says C N Raghavendran, Partner, CR Narayana Rao Architects. This deployment would involve feeding the system with the biometric data of authorised users, whether staff or delivery representatives of vendors, so as to trigger alerts to security personnel when the presence of unauthorised persons is detected.

For example, in K Raheja Corp’s high-end residential project Vivarea, and its premium projects such as Raheja Vistas Powai and NIBM Pune, high-quality security systems such as video door phones integrated with the access control system are a standard offering. These help residents track visitors at the entrance lobby and allow only authorised guests to enter. Additionally, occupants have one-touch access to common areas through the use of IP-controlled, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Integrated smoke and gas leak detectors, panic alarms in apartments and common areas and a central monitoring station further enhance security.

In K Raheja Corp’s commercial project, Mindspace Business Park in Airoli, turnstiles installed in the entrance lobbies and seamlessly integrated with elevators assign each entrant to an elevator for the smooth movement of traffic.

Puravankara’s residential projects such as Purva Westend and Purva Palm Beach feature digital entrance door locks and a panic button to trigger alerts in case of an emergency, according to Srikanth Srinivasan, President - Procurement, Puravankara. “For the convenience of home owners, in future, the digital door lock will be made controllable by an app, to allow home owners to remotely see who is at their door and let in people. These and more features will be available in all upcoming Puravankara projects under its signature residential line BluNex Home—intelligent next-gen homes in collaboration with Google.”

With greater awareness of the role of CCTV cameras in enabling homeowners to remotely monitor their property, some real-estate developers are moving to offer homes with preinstalled CCTV cameras, observes Pithawalla.

Zicom’s most popular technology currently is artificial intelligence-driven cameras, which can detect strangers entering restricted areas and help homeowners monitor the young and elderly; for instance, they can detect if an elderly person has been sitting in one location for a long duration.

Incidentally, a best practice associated with CCTV camera footage is to store the camera recording in the Cloud to preserve the evidence even in the eventuality of a disaster on site.

- CHARU BAHRI

Moving on from building design to the technologies to be deployed, “access control in residential properties used to be implemented via video door phones at the flat level but this has since expanded to multilevel access control covering the main gate, lobby and flat levels,” says. Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice-President and Global Head, Marketing, Sales & Innovation, Godrej Security Solutions. This trend is especially visible in township projects (with about 250-900 flats), which have video door phones integrated with locks for provision of easy access.Today, “some of the most securely built and managed buildings deploy a biometric solution in conjunction with facial recognition cameras, and integrate these with the building management system,” says C N Raghavendran, Partner, CR Narayana Rao Architects. This deployment would involve feeding the system with the biometric data of authorised users, whether staff or delivery representatives of vendors, so as to trigger alerts to security personnel when the presence of unauthorised persons is detected.For example, in K Raheja Corp’s high-end residential project Vivarea, and its premium projects such as Raheja Vistas Powai and NIBM Pune, high-quality security systems such as video door phones integrated with the access control system are a standard offering. These help residents track visitors at the entrance lobby and allow only authorised guests to enter. Additionally, occupants have one-touch access to common areas through the use of IP-controlled, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Integrated smoke and gas leak detectors, panic alarms in apartments and common areas and a central monitoring station further enhance security.In K Raheja Corp’s commercial project, Mindspace Business Park in Airoli, turnstiles installed in the entrance lobbies and seamlessly integrated with elevators assign each entrant to an elevator for the smooth movement of traffic.Puravankara’s residential projects such as Purva Westend and Purva Palm Beach feature digital entrance door locks and a panic button to trigger alerts in case of an emergency, according to Srikanth Srinivasan, President - Procurement, Puravankara. “For the convenience of home owners, in future, the digital door lock will be made controllable by an app, to allow home owners to remotely see who is at their door and let in people. These and more features will be available in all upcoming Puravankara projects under its signature residential line BluNex Home—intelligent next-gen homes in collaboration with Google.”With greater awareness of the role of CCTV cameras in enabling homeowners to remotely monitor their property, some real-estate developers are moving to offer homes with preinstalled CCTV cameras, observes Pithawalla. Zicom’s most popular technology currently is artificial intelligence-driven cameras, which can detect strangers entering restricted areas and help homeowners monitor the young and elderly; for instance, they can detect if an elderly person has been sitting in one location for a long duration.Incidentally, a best practice associated with CCTV camera footage is to store the camera recording in the Cloud to preserve the evidence even in the eventuality of a disaster on site.- CHARU BAHRI

Real Estate

05 Dec 2025

RBI Rate Cut Boosts Confidence Across Housing Market

Industry Context and Market DynamicsThe real estate industry has welcomed the RBI’s rate cut as a timely boost to affordability and demand. With home prices having risen steadily across major markets, even a marginal reduction in interest rates meaningfully strengthens purchasing power, especially for first-time and mid-income buyers.Ashish Jerath, President – Sales & Marketing, Smartworld Developers, observes:“The RBI’s 25-basis-point cut, bringing the repo rate down to 5.25%, is a timely boost for the real estate sector. Lower interest rates reduce borrowing costs, enabling homeb..

Infrastructure Transport

05 Dec 2025

BMC Resumes Rs 170 Billion Road Works, Targets 80 per cent By Jan 2026

Following the withdrawal of the southwest monsoon in October, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has restarted work on 645 roads—covering 297.49 kilometres—under its large-scale concretisation programme. Data shows that more than 60 per cent of the resumed works are located in the western suburbs. Officials said the civic body aims to complete concretisation on 80 per cent of the roads where fresh work has begun by January 2026. Launched in 2022, the Rs 170 billion project seeks to concretise 700 kilometres of roads across Mumbai. All civil works were halted during the monsoon ..

Infrastructure Urban

05 Dec 2025

India Pushes Digital Shift In Urban Land Mapping

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR) under the Ministry of Rural Development has convened a National Symposium on NAKSHA – the National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations – to advance India’s transition to modern, technology-driven land mapping. Speaking at the inaugural session, Secretary Manoj Joshi underscored the urgent need to move revenue departments away from outdated, tape-based methods and rough hand-drawn sketches. He stressed that adopting latitude–longitude-based digital mapping and GIS-linked registration systems is essential for economic stabi..