Smart cities open growth opportunities for manufacturers

Vivek Yadav, Vice President, Havells India Limited

“Smart switchgears can also be pre-programmed and embedded with intelligent devices for monitoring and automatic load management for energy savings and easy maintenance”

Indian switchgear market is anticipated to witness robust growth due to surging power demand from industrial, commercial/residential sectors and developing infrastructure, believes Vivek Yadav, Vice President, Havells India Limited.

Transformation in economic growth
The power sector is playing a critical role in the overall growth of the economy and the government has taken steps to augment power generation and also strengthen power distribution. Also, large investments is being envisaged in rural electrification, upgrading and strengthening existing distribution networks, industrial capacity expansion, and construction. All these factors will fuel the demand of power sector in India.

The government has launched various schemes in the past like Make in India, Digital India, Integrated Power Development Scheme, Smart Cities, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, among others, which are committed towards development of new infrastructure and revamping of the existing infrastructure in the country thereby improving India’s standing on the global arena.

Smart Cities
An initiative, which has been a game-changer for the Indian electricity sector is the government “Smart Cities” project, which is widely expected to push demand for quality electrical equipment and thus open up massive growth opportunities for electrical equipment manufacturers. Since there will surge in construction activity, the demand for high quality switchgears is bound to see a quantum jump.

Growth of the switchgear industry
According to a recent report from Research and Markets, the Indian switchgear industry is poised to reach $3.7 billion by 2022. India’s switchgear market is anticipated to witness robust growth due to surging power demand from industrial, commercial and residential sectors and developing infrastructure across various sectors including residential and commercial.

Acceptance of Indian switchgear globally
The market for switchgears is well established in India and has the necessary capacity to produce quality switchgear equipment and meet the expected demand from the smart cities. The Indian switchgear industry is dominated by the organised sector and has kept pace with global changes in the industry and utilises the latest technology in the design and manufacturing process.

Emerging trends in the switchgear industry
Innovation in switchgears is primarily in terms of the aesthetics and customised features offered by the products such as improving the product lifecycle, tamper-proofing, increasing safety and handling, improving user-interface and focus on multi-functionality and niche functionality. Also, smart switchgears are in trend nowadays. Smart switchgears are embedded with sensors and smart systems which enable a safe, reliable and flexible distribution within a fully controlled system. Smart switchgears can also be pre-programmed and embedded with intelligent devices for monitoring and automatic load management for energy savings and easy maintenance.