Kritilabs Technologies Limited signed a three-year memorandum of understanding with Fiji-based RC Manubhai & Co Pte Ltd on September 12 to push AI, IoT, video analytics and industrial technology into Fiji and other Pacific Island markets. The deal puts corporate systems first, with surveillance, monitoring and industrial control among the initial focus areas. Ordinary people in Fiji and across the Pacific are the ones who will live with the results.
Who Gets the Tech
The partnership will initially focus on Fiji, then move toward Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and Tonga. Australia and New Zealand have been identified as later opportunities, but only subject to applicable certification requirements. That’s the map of expansion: a private agreement between two companies reaching across islands, with certification gates standing between the vendors and more markets.
The companies said they will work on customer development, demonstrations, proof-of-concepts, system integration and implementation. The initial focus areas include AI-enabled video analytics and surveillance, asset management, industrial IoT, transportation and mobility, railway and fleet monitoring, and manufacturing applications. In plain terms, the deal is built around systems that watch, track and manage people and infrastructure.
What the Companies Say
Srikrishna Varadharajan, Co-founder and CEO, Kritilabs Technologies, said: “We are delighted to partner with RCM, an organization with deep market relationships and a strong distribution and industrial network in Fiji. Our objective is not simply to export technology, but to work with local partners to adapt, deploy and create intelligent solutions that address real business and infrastructure needs in the region.”
Dr. LN Rajaram, co-founder and CTO, Kritilabs Technologies, said India has a tremendous opportunity to take its technology innovation to emerging markets by combining strong technology capabilities with trusted local ecosystems. “Fiji provides an excellent starting point for Kritilabs to establish a meaningful presence in the Pacific.”
Dr. Uppiliappan Gopalan, CEO of RC Manubhai & Co Pte Ltd, said Fiji is increasingly becoming an important gateway to the Pacific, and the partnership could bring innovative technologies that address real operational and infrastructure challenges. “Our partnership with Kritilabs combines our understanding of the local and regional market with India’s growing capabilities in AI, IoT and industrial technology. We look forward to developing solutions that create tangible value for customers in Fiji and beyond,” Mr. Gopalan said.
Those are the words of the people at the top of the arrangement. They talk about value, networks and deployment. They talk about markets. They talk about infrastructure. The people who will be monitored, integrated and managed are not the ones speaking.
The Network Behind the Network
Kritilabs describes itself as a technology company developing solutions across AI, IoT, real-time enterprise operations, asset intelligence, video analytics, industrial intelligence, monitoring and automation. RC Manubhai has an established presence in Fiji across distribution, retail and industrial networks, including hardware, electrical, building and industrial product categories. That combination matters. One side brings the software and surveillance tools; the other brings the local distribution and industrial reach to move them into place.
The agreement was executed on September 12, and the companies have already laid out the next markets they want to enter. Fiji comes first. Then the rest of the Pacific, if the certification boxes get checked and the business case holds up. It’s a familiar pattern: private firms, local intermediaries, and a regional rollout dressed up as innovation.
What’s being built here isn’t just technology. It’s an apparatus for management, monitoring and control, sold through trusted networks and wrapped in the language of partnership. The people at the bottom get the systems. The people at the top get the contracts.