Piyush Jha

Growing up in the slums of Mumbai, Piyush Jha experienced firsthand the harsh reality of drinking and living around polluted water. At the age of five, he battled dengue, malaria, and typhoid—all at once—caused by the contaminated environment around him. That life-threatening moment didn’t break him. Instead, it became the spark that ignited his mission to change the way the world sees wastewater.

At just 16, with no external support, Piyush began developing a solution. Today, he leads Vasudeva Innovations and has created BEC Cell Technology (BioElectro Cell Technology) with his team—a revolutionary system that treats industrial effluents, reduces hexavalent chromium by over 98%, and simultaneously generates electricity using wastewater as fuel. This closed-loop solution is cost-effective (up to 90% savings), land-efficient (70% less space required), and produces green hydrogen and electricity as byproducts.

What started as a fight for survival has now evolved into a mission to treat over 2 billion liters of wastewater, both industrial and sewage, in the next three years.