The Indian electrical equipment industry has come of age due to the recent reforms in the power sector and the country is now ready to provide high-quality products for the global electrical equipment market.
The electrical equipment industry comprises of equipments used for generation, transmission, distribution and utilization of power. The industry is generally classified into General Equipments, Transmission, Distribution and Storage Equipments and Prime Movers. The industry manufactures generators, boilers, turbines, transformers, switchgears and control gear equipments such as process control instrumentation, circuit breakers, isolators and relays etc. The electrical equipment industry was delicensed under the new industrial policy announced by the Government of India in 1991. The INR 4,500 crore (US$10 bn) industry consists of 30,000 big and small players, distributed across the country1.
The Indian electrical equipment industry is fragmented in nature. Almost 60% of the products are manufactured by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Most of them have poor operations and no quality control worth the name. Many of them are engaged in manufacturing duplicates of well-known brands. Since they do not pay excise duties and are sold in retail outlets on cash basis, these fake products undercut the genuine ones in price. This practice is more prevalent in low-tension consumer electrical products such as switches, plugs, sockets, bulbs, dimmers and controllers. Some big names like Anchor Electricals, try to guard themselves by using 3-D holograms on their packing, which cannot be easily copied. |
