Interaction :Sanjeev Vyas Sr. GM Havells India

Power Insight: What is the current market size of electric wire and cable market in India? What growth rate has been witnessed by the market, over the recent past?

Sanjeev Vyas: The Electrical Wire and Cable industry In India has a market size of around 50000 Cr and the market has witnessed a growth rate of around 14-15 % CAGR over the recent years.

Power Insight: Could you throw some light on the key market & technology trends witnessed in India?

Sanjeev Vyas: In last few years, since technology development is focussed towards renewable energy, the development has greatly been seen in Cables for Solar application.

In addition to this, there is significant technological development witnessed in Halogen Free Electrical Wires for building application. Such wires provides Improved Fire performances and offer much reduced risk of Fire hazardous in Electrical Network due to short circuit.

Among the total market of around INR 50000Cr in India, 65% constitute power and control cables and 35% is for light duty cables.65% cables are coming from organized manufacturer and 35% from un–organized manufacturer. After implementation of GST, organized sector share is rapidly in increasing trend and likely to be around 75% up to year -2020.

Power Insight: What are some of the key drivers for market growth over the coming years?

Sanjeev Vyas: The investments undertaken by Govt. in power and infrastructure sectors will drive the demand of wires and cables in the near future as well. Also, projects such as DDUGJY, IPDS, Smart Cities plan and Saubhagya , “Power for All“  movement by Central Electricity Authority  supported by Focus on renewal Energy  is going to be certainly a key driver in India in coming future for Wire and Cable Industry.

Power Insight: In your view, what are some of the persistent challenges to market growth and how can be these addressed?

Sanjeev Vyas: One of the biggest challenges faced by the industry is volatility in raw material prices. Any upward movements in the prices of raw material like steel, zinc, copper, and aluminium have an adverse effect on the profit margins.

In addition to this, another challenge is to convince customer to pay for Quality. Due to lack of standardisation of the end product, there is serious challenge for the sector. Since Wire and Cable product is mainly Raw Material driven, unorganized manufacturer with substandard Quality parameters also survives because of easy going functional performance with compromised quality parameters.

Also, delay in execution of projects due to the requirement of multiple clearances and approvals, poses a major impediment to the growth of the industry.

Power Insight: What growth do you foresee for the market in short to mid-term?

Sanjeev Vyas: Increasing demand for power, light and communication will keep demand high for wire and cable. Also, the increase in the demand of reliable & efficient energy transmission & distribution systems will drive the growth of wires & cables market in near future.

The wire and cable industry will eventually focus on supplying cables for specific application pertaining to the industry needs.

Company Specific 

Power Insight: Brief tell us about your company and its product portfolio. How has been the current FY19 in terms of business, so far?

Sanjeev Vyas: Located in midst of tranquil hills of Aravali, Havells has one of India’s largest Cables plant today. Set up in 1996, the plant today manufactures wide range of the cables which covers HT cables, EHV cables, LT cables, instrumentation cables, control cables, marine and offshore cables,  single and multi-core flexible wires, Aerial Bunched cable  , Solar Cables , Fire resistance Cable and many more.

The State of the Art Havells Cable Plant is certified with ISO: 9001, IS0: 14001, OHSAS: 18001, ISO: 17025 and ISO: 50001

FY19 has been very exciting for us in terms of business growth and we are expecting to close to 3500 crore this year with growth of 20% CAGR.

Power Insight: Which all B2B segment do you serve? Are you planning to serve any new yet crucial segment with diversification in product range? Is there any new product in offing, or any new variant of the existing ones?

Sanjeev Vyas: The Fast Moving Electrical Goods Company (FMEG) Havells India Limited is $1.4 Billion Electricals and Home Appliance Company that manufactures products from fans to purifiers for personal care products segment along with reactive power solutions, wires and other products in the industrial sector.

To penetrate the unequaled distribution network, the brand has established 513 exclusive brand showrooms across India named as Havells Galaxies and Havells Gallery, offering products for domestic and commercial  businesses.

Diversified product portfolio in each of the business verticals in the electronic segment has not only helped the company in the establishing its brand in electrical business but it also helped it in establishing & popularising its industrial business segment.

In order to directly reach out to the targeted segment, the company has created 414 Havells Galaxy, 27 Standard Gallery, 72 Havells Gallery stores together contributing 22% of the revenues by reaching out to 280 districts. This strategic advantage contributed to the brand creating the branding experience for customers and a high brand recall.

Power Insight: Tell us about your plans and preparedness to cater to the growing renewable segment and smart cities mission in India? Is there any new investments coming up, either for capacity expansion or plant upgrade?

Sanjeev Vyas: Keeping in pace with increased demand of wires & cables due to renewable and Smart City mission, Havells is doubling its Capacity and will be investing in plant up gradation in year 2019-20 significantly.

Innovation is one of the core values and way of life at Havells. Moving with this philosophy, the company has invested in extensive R&D to develop best-in-class products and address the ever changing requirements of our discerning customers. Our R&D team is constantly working towards developing the most innovative and safe products.

While holding almost product certification from various utilities and Bureau of Indian Standard, Havells Cable is among handful of cable manufacturer in the world having BASEC (British Approval Services for Electric Cables) certification. BASEC is professional stamp of Quality in the field of Electric Cable worldwide.

Power Insight: Tell us about strategic plans that would help you remain relevant as well as competitive in the market, over the coming years?

Sanjeev Vyas: Our manufacturing plant is one of the most modern and automated plant and is equipped with best-in-class machineries and use best raw material from primary manufacturers which ensures quality.

Being a part of latest technology Havells has come up with Improved fire and Heat  performances insulation which ensured no  risk of fire Hazards.   HR-FR insulation,   ROHS compliance &   Anti-rodent/ anti- termite Insulation make compaction with reduced electric losses.

Havells is also working on development of such type of insulating material which can save energy with operating economy.

Havells Solar Cables with special Polymer for solar application has been already developed and certified with TUV standard. Such cables can reasonably demonstrate service life of 30 years minimum under extreme weathering and fire conditions.

Havells as Market leader and responsible Wire and Cable manufacturer in India has taken one step ahead towards business excellence in the Industry by setting up Diagnostic and Field Study Centre at Alwar.

We aim to provide technological support to the Electrical industry setting up Havells initiate is the first of its own kind in the country by aiming to provide technological support to the Electrical industry in following activities.

• Condition monitoring for aged Cables.
• Develop and establish methodology for mapping test results to cable circuit failures.
• Develop and establish the compatibility requirements of cable installation accessories with the cable to have reliable field performance.
• A Knowledge-based Systems shall be developed and shared for selecting cable by overcoming installation issues by experiencing the field studies.