Havells India, an electrical goods maker, plans to set up a joint venture with an European firm to tap the power of Ethernet.
This will help Havells to take on competition and increase its revenue from the unit by 40% in the fiscal year ending March 2018.
“We are yet to sign the dotted line,” Ajay Saraf, business head, lighting, said in an interview. “The European company not only brings in the latest technology but also new clients. The foreign firm serves top global customers.”
India’s lighting market is estimated to be ₹9,000 crore and growing at about 13% every year. Havells is planning to bring together lightning with other facilities such as telephony, Internet, and electricity through a single Ethernet cable.
The company operates in segments such as government, industry, commercial spaces, retail and homes. It is also present in smart street lighting LED solutions which offer a centrally-controlled monitoring system that enables remote-controlled operations of street lights, energy analysis and fault monitoring.
“We will complete the shut down of our CFL lamp manufacturing by the end of this year,” Mr. Saraf said. “The CFL lamps have a high residue of mercury.”
‘To go big on Solar’
“The company has enhanced its LED capacity to 25 lakh lamps a month at its facility in Neemrana and will continue to increase it,” he said. “It will also go big on solar,” he added.
“Havells has the capacity to produce solar power in the range of 1KW to 20KW. Solar goes hand in hand with lighting and the government has big plans to go solar. We are ready with A-Z solutions in this segment too,” Mr. Saraf said.
“Havells is bullish on the government’s commitment towards energy savings and greener fuels and its manufacturing programme is in line with the government’s development programmes such as rural electrification, municipalities opting for LED street lighting and upcoming smart cities,” he said. “We got recently a ₹400-crore order from North Delhi Municipal Corporation for street lighting We plan to bid for eight smart cities to set up the lighting needs,” he said.
The lighting unit is currently running at 75% capacity and Havells plans to sale it up according to the demand “as and when it arises,” he said.
The government under the new indirect tax regime, Goods and Services Tax, has reduced the rates from 15% to 12%.
“The effect of the changes are not visible as of now as there is no movement. Cash flow may be better in the long-term due to GST but now people are not excited,” he said.