“Delta Electronics plans to foray into the LED street lighting and solar power segments soon”

Monday, November 24, 2014: Delta India Electronics, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Delta Electronics, Thailand, has been operating in India since 2003. Delta has a strong presence in India with over 100 distribution partners. The company recently forayed into the LED lighting segment. Nikhil Razdan, chief operating officer, Delta Electronics, spoke to LED Bazaar about the company venturing into the LED segment and its plans for the future.

LB: How is Delta Electronics associated with the LED business?

Delta Electronics was established as a CFL manufacturing unit in 2003. Over a period of time, it has grown into a group of companies. Today we have four units in Kashipur, three of which manufacture CFLs and the fourth one is involved in backward integration of CFL components with the aim of expansion. We have also acquired some new areas with the aim of expansion. We want to expand our capacity from 6 million CFLs to 9 million CFLs per month. We have added one more unit, which will focus on LEDs. Over a period of time, we have realised that the CFL market has fully matured and LEDs are taking centre stage now. Being the largest OEM supplier to most of the big brands in India, we decided that we should also foray into the LED segment. The market is now moving more towards LED bulbs, down lighters, LED troffers and tube lights as well. Manufacturers of LED products have become very active, and are also trying to deliver better quality at affordable prices in India.

LB: Since when have you been manufacturing LED products in India?

We forayed into the LED segment in December 2012, and have started to locally manufacture circuits and allied components.

LB: How has your company grown in the last two years?

The growth in our LED business has, of course, been very little since this is a new segment for us and we ventured into it only recently. However, the growth in CFLs was high. We grew about 15 per cent vis-à-vis the previous two years.

LB: How do you see your company’s future in the LED segment?

I believe that the growth in this segment will pick up this year. This will be in addition to our existing basket of CFL products. With the new government’s thrust on saving energy, the prices are also coming down. We expect a modest growth of about 8 to 10 per cent this year.

LB: What are the LED products that you manufacture?

We are manufacturing retrofit LED bulbs of 5W, 7W and 9W. We also manufacture down lighters of 6W, 8W, 12W and 15W. Apart from that, we make LED troffers, which are of 36W and 45W. We will venture into manufacturing tube lights in the T5 and T8 range that are the equivalent of 16W and 18W. We have already tested the samples. The products are retrofit replacements for standard tube lights.

LB: From which regions do you think the demand for LED products will be the maximum?

The southern region is moving very fast in terms of LEDs. Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are growing fast in this segment. Our company has started receiving some enquiries from south India for government projects. Gujarat is another state that is moving ahead with respect to LEDs. Undoubtedly, the LED market has grown tremendously in the last two years.

LB: How are your LED products different from those of the other players?

Our LED products comply with the Government of India’s specifications as laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards. We offer a two year warranty on our products. Other manufacturers are considering bringing down the warranty period from two to one year, but our company will continue with two years warranty.

LB: What are the challenges you face while manufacturing LED products in India?

LED components and chips are very important while manufacturing LED products. The drivers, too, form an integral part. Most of the LED components have to be imported since there are inadequate manufacturing facilities in India. Also, there are no tooling facilities for optics in our country. Most of the OEMs design the optics in India, and forward this to China for manufacturing. This is a big deterrent to changing the form factors faster, in our country.

LB: Do any of the government policies help in boosting LED product manufacture?

The current import policies are helpful but the government’s thrust to push LEDs as ‘the’ source of light is a little lopsided.

LB: What are Delta’s goals for the year in the LED segment?

In the LED sector, our next target is to enter the street lighting and solar lights segments. All our market strategies are OEM based. We are currently focusing only on OEMs, though we have a couple of small brands of our own called ‘Ultralite’ and ‘Orkus’ which we are planning to use as promoting tools for our new product range.

LB: What has your contribution been to the development of the LED ecosystem in India?

Currently, we are only assemblers. But over a period of time, in order to bring down prices, we will have to do backward integration. There has to be some kind of impetus to produce LED lamps, which means that there should be some form of subsidy, cheaper imports, lower taxes and development of areas for LED applications—all of which will prompt investors to actually put in money.

LB: How can Delta help in developing the LED manufacturing base?

Currently, we are trying to work in sync with the technology and see what the overseas markets are doing. We are putting in efforts to bring that technology into India. I am an ardent supporter of local manufacturing since it is cost effective and brings employment.