How is the concept of good and effective lighting growing among Indian customers?
Indian customers understand the need of Effective Lighting and have started identifying that Lighting in any building consumes up to 40% of the total energy used and effective lighting not only strengthens security but also improves productivity. A well designed lighting system increases productivity, provides safe environment, reduces energy & maintenance costs. Both Individual & Society interests are served by more effective lighting and reduced operating costs. Lighting industry in India has generated a lot of opportunities and has to go a long way.
Which are the essential differences between commercial and home lighting solutions?
A residential lighting solution is all together different from a commercial lighting solution. From design and product selection to installation, there are several factors that distinguish the two types of lighting solutions. The primary difference between the two lighting solutions is their purpose and functionality. Commercial lights require bright lights with more Lumen output. Commercial grade light products are made of more robust protection drivers, heat sinks and lenses to last longer while residential grade products are the products that are specifically designed to be used at homes, and are not for heavy usage and long working hours.
How helpful have been the modern apps to change the ambiance without changing the hardware?
Till date we have seen dimming of lights with dimmers, 0-10V and DALI. Then came DMX LED colour changing solution for lighting in indoor and outdoor architectural lighting applications.
Now with the use of app based solution in different applications, the control system has become wireless remote/app control based. Today Smart Lighting Technology uses platforms like Bluetooth, BLE, BLE Mesh, Zigbee, and Wi-Fi. These technologies are user friendly with flexibility and are quite affordable.
In the recent developments, Lights are controlled remotely or via voice. One has complete control on the function and application of lights. These features make the lights an integral part of the smart homes, smart city and so on meeting the requirement that light should adjust with the background in such a way that the built environment feels just as visually comfortable as the lighting in our natural environments.
Do you feel that the Indian Lighting products’ market have been affected too much by the spread of COVID – 19?
Due to COVID-19 all the industries across the world have faced upside down situation. Every industry is figuring new ways to do business to survive and sustain. Similar is the situation within the lighting Industry and against these setbacks, there has been positive impact to make innovations & strategy. The Indian Lighting Industry was also highly affected given that 45% of the components required in the Indian electronics industry are imported from China and to meet this great demand we are very much aligned with the national vision of ‘MAKE IN INDIA FOR THE WORLD’.
Being passionate to manufacture and manufacturing being in the DNA of Jaquar Group, we have a backward integration in lighting fixtures at our State-of-the-Art Manufacturing Facility and NABL accredited R&D laboratory at Manesar, which gave us an edge to establish ourselves among the key lighting players in the country. The most important part is the LED drivers & these are manufactured in house through fully automated SMT machines. Also, we have similar automated lines for LED MCPCB assemblies as well. In addition to this, we are also manufacturing other components such as surge protection devices and sensors as well to further strengthen our supply chain. Further, we are coming up with a new manufacturing facility in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan by the end of this year where we will be setting up our own die casting units, which will reduce our dependency on outsourced raw materials, and will also minimize the lead times for the deliveries. At the end, all I can say is that though it’s a challenging time for all, being self-driven – we will come over it with ‘Make in India’.
What are the opportunities in disguise in this period?
Due to changing environment in the current situation, new technologies are emerging in the markets to help mankind to overcome the hardships–and to make better lifestyle with added safety features to safeguard others and self. Innovation and R&D are key catalysts in any business and we truly believe in the idea of innovation to provide the best in class solution to the world. Today our bathroom solutions is leading with innovation in these difficult times and is building solutions that can help people stay safe and healthy. Recently, we have launched a marketing campaign ‘Sense & Sensibility’ that enables touch free solutions. On the similar lines, we have introduced lighting fixtures that can be operated without any physical contact and can be optimally utilized with energy savings.
How popular are Jaquar products in the Indian market today?
First of all, it is the legacy of Jaquar Bathroom Solutions, which gave the leverage to uplift the lighting business. Secondly, it’s the trust of the people in the quality and the services provided by the Jaquar group to its customers. Also, the infrastructure that we have built for Lighting business that includes our state of the art manufacturing facility and NABL accredited R&D laboratory that gave us an edge to establish ourselves among the key lighting players in the country.
Today we have enough credentials in our kitty. We have already Illuminated prestigious spaces such as Parliament Hall, Kalinga Stadium Bhubaneswar that hosted 2018 Men’s World Cup, Dynamic Facade Lighting of Rajkot Bus Port and Durgam Cheruvu Cable Bridge at Hyderabad. In addition to above, we have good presence in hospitality sector as well and we have worked with groups like Marriot, Mayfair, Radisson, Lemon Tree to name a few. Looking at the current CAGR of lighting industry in India and also considering our manufacturing capacity and capabilities we are targeting a revenue of 1000 Cr. by 2022.
What kind of effort are you putting to educate the Indian buyers on the need and potential of good lighting?
The users and lighting industry are so much fascinated with energy saving and pricing that almost all are neglecting the fact that currently, poor quality finished products are sold in the market to consumers’ at cheap prices making ill effects on the consumer well-being on long-term basis, which is indistinguishable. We are educating the buyers through training sessions of the product range and providing solutions with help of our in house lighting planning teams who provide design and product solutions and also help in executing the projects. All these services are provided free of cost to all our customers and are available all across the country as per the Vision of our Director Mr. Ranbir Raj Mehra to bring Delight and connect to Customer in providing the best in class Solution maintaining the quality and the services provided by the Jaquar Group to its customers. Further, under his dynamic leadership, Jaquar Lighting has ventured into Dynamic Facade Lighting segment and we have already cracked some big prestigious projects in the country. We are providing end to end SITC solutions in Facade Lighting.This provides us an edge over the other players as we have the capabilities to provide customized solutions within defined time lines and as per the customers’ requirements.
How much impact has your product VIVID made on Indian society? What are the primary areas where these colour changing lights are being used?
We have received an overwhelming response for Vivid Jaquar Lighting Products as these are perfect solution for your home and celebrations and set up the mood lighting and the tone for the day or the evening. You can control the colour and intensity of your lights with these Vivid Smart Bulbs with just a click of a button on your smart phone through The Jaquar Lighting App, available on the iPhone App Store And Google Play Store. Go smart with these smart LED bulbs. Play with the settings and turn it warm, or cold, bright or light and tweak it according to your preference with these smart lights!
What are the benefits of smart lighting at a glance? How is its demand growth in India?
Technology comprising combination of smart features with energy efficiency is leading to smart solution facilitating the growth of smart cities across the nation. We have introduced Smart Street Lighting solutions for future cities. These lighting fixtures can be addressed individually or in a group. Scheduled on/off, dimming is the basic feature. These intelligent fixtures can communicate to each other and to a central server through a wireless protocol and capture huge amount of data that can be used to conduct various levels of analysis and create inferences for some actionable insight. Predictive maintenance being one of the most important actionable insight.
Smart Lighting industry in India has tremendous opportunity as there are several Smart Cities projects proposed and approved by Government of India. This is the right time to invest in these technologies to be ready for the future.
With an estimated market of about Rs 20,000 crore, the lighting industry is witnessing tremendous growth. Further, in LED segment alone, there is a double digit growth observed since last few years.
What would you like to communicate to the Lighting Products Sellers from India?
We would like to convey that we are already at par with many other established lighting players in the country and are equally capable of delivering innovative solutions in lighting. It would be our pleasure to associate and offer our complete lighting solutions and services to them. We are looking for partners who are passionate about LED lighting technology and can proactively promote the brand irrespective of the support from our sales and marketing teams. We are looking for entrepreneurs with passion to lead & strong networking skills apart from financially capable people, which may be one of the criteria.
