How often do you find septuagenarians founding companies that end up winning contracts to build satellites for Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)? In December 2016, a consortium of players led by Bengaluru-based Alpha Design Technologies managed just that. Established by ex-army man Colonel HS Shankar, it not only manufactures defence electronic equipment for India’s armed forces and agencies, but also has customers in developed markets like France, Germany and Israel. About two-third of Alpha’s revenue is derived from shipping their products to these countries. Alpha allocates about 40% of its expenditure for R&D to keep pace with fast changing technology. This has helped them develop state-of-the-art defence and avionics products, ahead of global competition