Hindustan Zinc Limited, a Vedanta Group company and one of the world’s largest integrated zinc producers as well as a leading global silver producer, hosted ‘Zinnovation 2026’ in partnership with V-Spark DeepTech Ventures. The event served as a strategic AI showcase and technology pitch forum aimed at accelerating digital transformation across mining, smelting, and manufacturing operations.
At the event, Hindustan Zinc announced its ambition to unlock nearly ₹2,000 crore in value through AI-driven industrial transformation initiatives developed in collaboration with V-Spark DeepTech Ventures.
The projected value creation is expected to come from multiple operational improvements, including enhanced productivity, cost optimisation, improved asset reliability, greater energy efficiency, stronger safety performance, higher recovery rates, and faster decision-making across the company’s mines, smelters, and associated operations.
V-Spark DeepTech Ventures also plans to extend these advanced AI-driven industrial use cases to the broader manufacturing sector, where adoption of digital technologies and AI remains relatively limited despite manufacturing contributing nearly 17% to India’s GDP.
As industries worldwide accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence, automation, and industrial intelligence, platforms like V-Spark are playing an increasingly important role in driving the next phase of smart manufacturing transformation across sectors such as manufacturing, heavy industry, metals, and mining.
Zinnovation 2026 was designed to demonstrate proof-of-concept towards scalable industrial deployment at Hindustan Zinc, a pioneer in using digital and AI-led technologies for manufacturing excellence. V-Spark is now making these cutting-edge technologies available to the wider manufacturing industry.
Zinnovation 2026 brought together global technology leaders, OEMs and startups to strengthen Hindustan Zinc’s operational efficiencies. The forum reinforced the company’s venture-client approach to rapidly pilot, validate and scale technologies with measurable business impact.
The event saw MoUs being signed with XCMG, Sandvik, STL Digital and AVEVA. V-Spark also signed agreements with emerging startups including Beta Tanks Robotics, Symboticware AI, Kernely, Uncharted Technologies, Infinite Uptime, Intellisense.io and Flutura to advance promising solutions into detailed technical evaluation and pilot readiness. These engagements will focus on feasibility assessment, data integration, deployment models and scale-up potential for the manufacturing sector.
Priya Agarwal Hebbar, Chairperson, Hindustan Zinc, said: “The future of manufacturing will be defined by our ability to scale with intelligence. At Hindustan Zinc, we are embedding technology directly into the core of our operations to prove that an industry traditionally defined by grit can be led by data. Zinnovation brings together global capability, entrepreneurial innovation and a scale that can deliver real impact on the ground. As we advance our HZL 2.0 vision, we are engineering a 21st-century metals enterprise that ensures our people work safely, our environmental footprint stays small, and our technology sets a global benchmark.”
Discussions centred on high-impact industrial applications of AI, including predictive maintenance, digital twins, connected operations, autonomous systems, computer vision, industrial data platforms, robotic applications, intelligent process control and real-time decision intelligence.
Akarsh Hebbar, Chairman, V-Spark DeepTech Ventures and President, Vedanta Group, said: “The next era of industrial leadership will be driven by AI and collaborative innovation ecosystems. Through V-Spark DeepTech Ventures, we are building a platform that connects startups, technology leaders, and operating businesses to solve critical industrial challenges at scale. Zinnovation reflects our commitment to moving innovation from pilots to performance, proving that a 3x to 4x return is a highly achievable reality for deep tech AI enterprises. This is how we create globally benchmarked, future-ready operations across industries.”
Hindustan Zinc also showcased its digital mining and smelting capabilities, including diverse metals portfolio, tele-remote operations, a state-of-the-art winder simulator and immersive virtual demonstrations of its operations.
The event also witnessed participation from industry leaders and technology experts including Mr. Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc; Mr. Amitesh Sinha, CEO, V-Spark DeepTech Ventures; Mr. Shibashis Khan, Head – Metals, Mining & Cement, Siemens Digital Industries; Mr. Koustubh Kulkarni, Head – Digitalization, India, Siemens Digital Industries; Mr. Pravin Panchagnula, Head – Manufacturing & Conglomerates, India, Microsoft; Ms. Aparajita Puri, MD – Strategic Pursuits, India & South Asia, Microsoft; Mr. Madhu Shekar, Customer CTO, India, Google; Mr. Manojit Haldar, India Head, Sandvik; Mr. Tu Hui, Managing Director, XCMG and Mr. Praveen Jadhav, India Head – Sales, Aveva.
Mr. Manojit Haldar, India Head, Sandvik said, “The metals and mining sector is entering a decisive phase where digitalisation, automation and AI will shape the next level of productivity and competitiveness. Hindustan Zinc’s approach is significant because it is linking technology adoption with clearly defined operational priorities and scale-up pathways. Through platforms such as Zinnovation, industry leaders and technology partners can co-create solutions that are practical, scalable and aligned to the future of intelligent industrial operations.”
Raunak Bhinge, Founder and MD, Infinite Uptime, said, “Industrial AI creates the highest impact when it is deployed close to the asset and linked to measurable business outcomes. Hindustan Zinc’s focus on reliability, predictive maintenance and operational intelligence creates a strong foundation for reducing downtime, improving asset performance and unlocking value at scale. Through platforms such as Zinnovation, V-Spark DeepTech Ventures is enabling deep-tech companies to work with real industrial problem statements where solutions can be demonstrated, validated and scaled.”
V-Spark DeepTech Ventures continues to strengthen industrial innovation pipelines by scouting and partnering with high-potential technology companies and startups across manufacturing and industrial sectors.
Hindustan Zinc is currently working with over 50 DeepTech startups on more than 100 projects through V-Spark DeepTech Ventures. These collaborations span key focus areas including production enhancement, cost optimisation, value creation, ESG leadership, asset performance, safety and operational efficiency. By combining its integrated operating base with V-Spark’s deep-tech venture-client model, Hindustan Zinc aims to shorten the journey from problem statement to pilot, and from pilot to scaled business impact.
