Interview: Vinay Rathi – Gloster Cables Limited
In an interaction with Power Insight, – Viany Rathi, Executive Director, Gloster Cables Limited – shared his views on Indian Cables & Conductors industry looking into growth, technological advancements and key market trends. Excerpts. .
What are your views on Indian wire & cables Industry’s growth in value terms over the recent years? What is your outlook for the cable industry in FY 2018-19?
The Indian Economy is expected to embark on higher economic growth in FY 2018-19 owing to many proactive measures taken by the Government with anticipation o GDP growth by 7-8%. This obviously is complemented by favorable economic conditions expected to prevail during the year. The economy is expected t grow at 7.5% in 2017-18 on the back of agricultural production, owing to the prediction of near normal monsoons this fiscal, increased government spending in infrastructure, expected a surge in consumer spending with pent-up demand being satiated and implementation of GST.
The wire and cable industry with the market size of around Rs.16000 crores comprising of around 40% off the entire electrical industry. It is expected to increase by a CAGR of 15% over the next three years to Rs.18000 crores in 2018-19. Cables play a crucial part in all the three aspects of the power sector – generation, transmission and distribution, and as the government pushes for augmentation of transmission and distribution connectivity, it would generate healthy demand. However, Wires and cable market in the world and India is highly fragmented with the presence of many small and medium enterprises. Over a period, the industry has moved from the unorganized to the Organized sector. However, about 35% of this industry is still in the unorganized sector.
Could you through some light on the key market trends and the market growth drivers? What are some of the key challenges faced by this industry?
Rural electrification schemes under various schemes such as “DeenDayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) will continue to support the demand for cables. Government’s push towards Sobhagya Scheme which narrates as “Housing for all” and “Affordable Housing Scheme” will benefit the sector. Development in terms of optical fibre cables, fire resistant wires and cables is expected to be continued to develop, assisting the transition towards underground wires and cables. With the advent of GST, the company will be able to compete better as the unorganized sector which was out of the taxation purview is now covered, minimizing their ability to undercut prices.
Industries and Infrastructural activity including power segment are at developed state. Nevertheless, certain factor like a frequent rise in the cost of basic raw material, increase in Banking cost, the usefulness of GST implementation realization thereby the economical transformation, delay in debtors recovery etc. are basic amenities which are seen to be the daunting task towards business development.
Brief us about your Company and it key offerings? What has been your gain in the market share in recent years?
Fort Gloster is our technical collaborator with an aim to serve our country with quality products, earned acceptance by all segment of Industries and Utilities.Thus, GLOSTER is one of the oldest brands is in service to the nation till date. Being of the best cable for power stations in India and cable manufacturers of India the plant is located at around 35 Kms from Secunderabad on National Highway NH44, the plant encompasses an area of 41,000 sq.mtrs (Unit I & II),, which a total built-up area of 23000 sq.mtrs. Production facilities have been designed to match customer expectations and are compatible with the requirements of the National and International standards which made the Company to be one of the leading cable for power stations in India and cable manufacturers of India.
In its efforts to manufacture an outstanding product, a state-of-the-art infrastructure equipped with sophisticated machinery and testing equipment has been created at its manufacturing units. A vigilant internal quality control cell ensures that every GLOSTER cable is tested to conform to the highest standards in the state-of-the-art In-House Laboratory. With the review of the market segment and diversified product and customer profile, we could enhance our turnover by about 15% with fairly reasonable quantum in the business result.
The market is moving towards advanced products and technologies, what has been your contribution in this area?
Technological up-gradation in all products is a continuous process in order to meet the growing demand on techno-economical consideration. This felt essential not only in product technology but overall cost reduction, optimization of raw material consumption, manpower realization etc. In a process of review our product diversification we have emphasized on instrumentation cable, Solar Cable and accordingly various types of machinery have been implanted. Design optimization without any compromise on any in-house and finished product characteristics, emphasis on the evolution of eco-friendly insulation products are amongst achieved criteria.
What kind of competition do you see in the market? Which sector are you focusing on to strengthen your market share?
Competition is welcome but in recent days users tend to focus on commercial aspect more than on technical consideration. Our country is confident to feed the national consumption which to some extent is eroded by unknown segment from places surrounding our Country. Despite with dedication of our team, we are marching ahead and we take more market share in the days to come..
