Pranay Punjabi, Founder & CEO of XECH Technologies

For the dynamic Pranay Punjabi, entrepreneurship has never been about creating products for the sake of adding another name to a crowded marketplace. It has been about identifying everyday problems and asking a more interesting question: Can design, technology and consumer insight come together to solve them better?

As Founder & CEO of XECH Technologies, and the driving force behind brands including XECH, Everyday Organisers and Timalfi, Pranay Punjabi has built his entrepreneurial journey around that very philosophy. His experience spans product development, manufacturing, D2C growth, omnichannel retail and technology-led consumer businesses… giving him a distinctly 360-degree understanding of what it takes to turn an idea into something people actually want to live with.

Now, with the launch of XECH Air Purifier, Pranay Punjabi is turning his attention to one of the most pressing realities of modern living: the quality of the air we breathe every day. But true to his approach, the proposition goes beyond simply putting another air purifier on the market. It reflects a larger shift in how consumers are looking at wellness, technology and the products they bring into their homes. The opportunity, for Punjabi, lies in making technology not only functional, but relevant, intuitive and designed around real-world needs.

There is also an intriguing precision to Punjabi’s approach to entrepreneurship. A licensed Commercial Pilot and former State-Level Chess Player, he brings together discipline, calculated thinking and a strategic eye… qualities that naturally find their way into product innovation and business building. His journey across consumer electronics, manufacturing, D2C and retail has given him an understanding that a successful product needs more than technology; it needs a reason to exist.

With XECH Air Purifier, that philosophy enters a category that is increasingly central to contemporary living. It is a story about technology meeting a very human need… and about an entrepreneur who continues to look at familiar problems through a different lens.

In an exclusive conversation with Sumita Chakraborty, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, TheGlitz, Pranay Punjabi, Founder & CEO of XECH Technologies, opens up about the thinking behind XECH Air Purifier, the changing expectations of today’s consumers, his approach to innovation and why building products that solve real-world problems remains at the heart of his entrepreneurial journey.

Over To Pranay Punjabi, Founder & CEO of XECH Technologies

The ₹2,999 Question – You’ve positioned XECH air purifier designed specifically around the realities of Indian homes and budgets. What did you see missing in the existing market that made you think, “We need to build this”?

Most of the air purifiers available in the market catered to the needs of larger spaces. But the truth is that Indians not only live in these areas but also work in other small spaces including bedroom, study room, office cabin etc. We felt that there was a need to create something for these places rather than just making another large air purifier.

And so, XECH air purifierwas created. The thought behind it was to provide air purification technology without making the consumer compromise on the quality of the product. The pricing factor of ₹2,999 was taken into account right from the start.

Made for India — What Does That Really Mean? – You describe XECH air purifier as being designed for Indian spaces. Beyond its compact size and price, what specifically about Indian homes, lifestyles and consumer behaviour influenced the product’s design?

For us, made for India means designing around the way people actually live in India today. In urban areas, where AQI levels can be a serious concern, many people live in compact apartments, single-bedroom homes, rented rooms, home offices and personal spaces.

That is why, rather than designing a purifier first and then figuring out where it would fit, we started by looking at the spaces where people actually live and work. XECH air purifieris designed for spaces up to 175 sq. ft. and is compact enough to fit beside a bed, on a study table.

For us, that is what designing for India really means, understanding the realities of urban Indian homes and creating a product that fits naturally into them, while helping people breathe cleaner air.

What’s Happening Inside XECH air purifier? – XECH air purifier packs a pre-filter, H13 HEPA filter, activated carbon layer, 40m³/h CADR and three-speed airflow into a compact form. What were the biggest engineering or design challenges in fitting serious air-purification technology into such a small, accessible product?

One of the most interesting engineering challenges with the XECH air purifier was finding the right balance between filtration, airflow, size, noise and cost. We did not want to simply take the specifications of a conventional air purifier and fit them into a smaller body. We wanted to rethink what an air purifier should be for the kind of spaces people actually use every day.

The XECH air purifier uses a three-stage filtration system with a pre-filter, H13 HEPA filter and activated carbon layer, along with a 40 m³/h CADR. It also offers three airflow speeds and a sleep mode. Bringing these elements together in a compact form factor meant we had to carefully work on the internal layout, airflow path and motor performance.

But the real challenge was not just achieving the numbers. It was making sure those specifications worked together in a way that made sense for everyday use. If a purifier is going into a bedroom, study or home office, filtration is important, but so are noise levels, footprint, power consumption and ease of use.

For us, the engineering exercise was really about finding the right balance between performance and practicality. We wanted to create a product that delivers meaningful air purification without becoming another bulky appliance occupying valuable space. That balance was probably the biggest engineering challenge in building the XECH air purifier.

Clean Air Without the White Elephant – Air purifiers can sometimes feel like bulky appliances that dominate a room. How did you approach the aesthetics of XECH air purifier, and how important was it to create something consumers would actually want sitting on their bedside table or work desk?

We were very conscious of the fact that an air purifier is something people live with every day. It sits in your bedroom, on your work desk or in your study, so we didn’t want it to look like a large industrial appliance placed inside a home.

With the XECH air purifier, we took a compact and minimal approach to the design. The idea was to make it small enough to fit naturally into everyday spaces without demanding attention. We focused on keeping the form simple, clean and functional, while making sure the design also supported efficient airflow and filtration.

For us, good design is not about making a product look decorative just for the sake of it. It is about making technology fit naturally into people’s lives. If consumers are comfortable keeping the purifier beside their bed or on their work desk, they are more likely to use it consistently.

So, in many ways, the design challenge was similar to the engineering challenge , delivering meaningful functionality without creating another bulky object in the room. The goal was to make the XECH air purifier feel less like an appliance that occupies space and more like a compact part of the space itself.

The ₹2,999 Challenge – At ₹2,999, affordability is clearly central to the proposition. How do you balance price with filtration performance, quality, durability and after-sales support? Is making air purification accessible at scale more important to XECH than simply moving into the premium appliance segment?

XECH air purifier has a multi-stage filtration system that includes an H13 HEPA filter and activated carbon, along with a 40 m³/h CADR. Its filter life is estimated at around 3,000 hours, depending on usage and environmental conditions.

At XECH, we believe accessibility should not mean taking away important features or compromising on product quality. Our approach was to build a top-of-the-line air purifier in terms of the features and technology it offers, and then use thoughtful engineering and product design to make that level of performance accessible to more consumers.

There was no cost-cutting exercise in terms of the core product experience. Instead, we looked at where we could engineer smarter, optimise the design and keep the product efficient without compromising on the features that matter. The objective was simple, deliver a genuinely capable air purifier at a price that makes advanced air purification accessible to a much larger number of people.

Beyond Air Purification – XECH air purifier includes features such as sleep mode, timers, ambient lighting and aromatherapy. Where do you draw the line between genuinely useful functionality and simply adding features because consumers expect them? What role does thoughtful product design play in XECH’s philosophy?

For us, the starting point was always air purification. That is the primary purpose of the product, and every engineering decision was made to ensure that the XECH air purifier delivers effective filtration and clean air. The secondary features were then designed to make that core function more convenient and relevant to everyday use. For instance, the sleep mode makes sense because people may want cleaner air while they sleep without unnecessary noise. The timer adds convenience for users who want the purifier to operate for a specific period. The aroma feature is an additional lifestyle element for those who want to add a pleasant fragrance to their space.

These features are not there simply to add more specifications to the box. They are built around how people actually use the product, while keeping air purification firmly at the centre. This is how we approach product development at XECH. We start with the consumer’s primary need, solve that problem well, and then look at how technology can add meaningful convenience around it. The idea is not to add features for the sake of features, but to make the overall product more useful in everyday life.

What’s Next for XECH? – XECH air purifier seems to sit at the intersection of health-conscious living, smart homes and affordable consumer technology. Is this the beginning of a larger XECH push into everyday wellness and home-tech products? What does the next five years look like for the brand?

XECH Air Purifier is an example of the path ahead for XECH, but I would not confine our future to one particular category. What interests us is the gap between technology and our daily lives. In the coming years, we plan to explore more categories that address evolving consumer needs, including air purification, pet-focused products, smart home solutions, personal wellness, convenience and mobility.

Our mission over the next five years is to build a strong Indian consumer technology brand that understands how Indian consumers live and combines this understanding with the latest technological innovations. We want to explore emerging technologies such as AI, smart sensors, connected devices, automation and intelligent, energy-efficient systems to create products that are smarter, more intuitive and genuinely useful.

We want to move beyond simply launching products and instead build technology-led solutions that anticipate consumer needs, simplify everyday life and become an integral part of people’s daily routines.

If XECH air purifier could eliminate one thing from every Indian home apart from pollutants, what would you choose — dust, clutter, cooking smells or that one relative who keeps opening the windows when the AC is on?

My vote for the element that needs elimination would go to the cooking smells. Indian cuisine is one of the things that makes our homes unique, yet sometimes the smell of tadka or some curry remains hanging in the air longer than we would like.  Besides this, there could be smoke emissions and other kinds of contaminants from cooking that affect indoor air quality and need to be controlled. From the point of view of the product, it is something we should definitely care about.

This is something that fits our approach at XECH perfectly because we seek to address people’s pain points, which could not be solved otherwise. We think how technology can make people’s life easier and how it can make even mundane things much more convenient. Therefore, if I were to choose an element to get rid of apart from the outdoor pollution, I would certainly pick cooking smells. It would be great if the smell of cooking would disappear as soon as you finish eating.

THEGLITZ TAKE: The Future Is in the Air

The most interesting thing about Pranay Punjabi’s entrepreneurial journey is that he doesn’t appear to chase trends… he looks for real problems waiting to be solved. And that distinction matters.

With XECH Air Purifier, Pranay Punjabi steps into a category that has become increasingly relevant to modern life, but his larger proposition is about something beyond cleaner air. It is about reimagining everyday technology as something purposeful, considered and genuinely useful. In a marketplace overflowing with gadgets, the challenge is no longer simply to invent; it is to create products that earn a place in our lives.

What makes Pranay particularly interesting is the combination of technology, design, functionality and consumer understanding behind his approach. His experience across product development, manufacturing, D2C and retail gives him an understanding of the journey from an idea on paper to a product in a consumer’s home.

And perhaps his background as a commercial pilot and chess player says something about the entrepreneur himself: precision, discipline and the ability to think several moves ahead.

TheGlitz Take? Pranay Punjabi is making a strong case for a future where smart innovation isn’t just about technology… it’s about creating products that make everyday living healthier, simpler and better.