The new government, the new policies, the “Make In India’ initiative, and a mission to make India the choice for the production of electrical equipment and reach an output of $100 billion by balancing exports and imports, the wires and cables market is in a such position from where success is just a step away.
Growing wires and cables marketThe industrial and commercial segment is an important aspect for the growth of wires and cables market. “Wire and cable business growth is linked to power and infrastructure segment growth,” remarks Anil Krishna, Vice President, Borouge (India) Pvt. Ltd. “With auctioning of coal blocks to power producers, the sector is likely to show double digit growth for next 3-4 years.”
Industrial production grew at the rate of 3.2 per cent YoY in the past 3 months which seems to be on a lower side, considering the sentiments shown by SENSEX recently. “Current sentiments and capital market movement speak volumes of growth destined to hit India in years to come,” explains Himanshu Sharma, Sales Head – Industries & Contractors; OEMs, Railway, Hydrocarbon, Generation and SAARC; Energy Products Division; Raychem RPG. “The government will ensure to turn the recent cyclical recovery into a sustained boom. We are benefiting hugely from a worldwide slump in energy prices. Consumer-price inflation has come down to 5.1 per cent and current account deficit has shrunk with rupee being stable even under pressures.”
With this Raychem is bound to get good capital for structural reforms for which people of India have given powerful mandate to Modi Government. “I am sure next 5 years will be a transformational era and we should see industrial segment growing at an average of more than 7 per cent,” opines Mr Sharma. “With this we should see a rebound in cable industry in Q3-Q4 of FY16 at the rate of more than 15 per cent YoY.”
However, Nikhil Gupta, Executive Director – Cables, KEC International Ltd., sounds little cautious. His reason is that large part growth across manufacturing and infrastructure sector has been subdued. He adds, “Market sentiments have improved largely due to falling commodity prices but we are yet to see a turnaround. At the same time, the government has promised investment in railways, ports, smart cities renewable generation and distribution amongst others. This bodes well for cables market and we can expect it to grow annually at 10-12 per cent.”
Concern of growing importsImports have captured about 43 per cent of the market for electrical components in India. No doubt, it is a matter of serious concern. Wire and cable business is different than electrical component business, and imports come due to global competition in big power generation and distribution projects. “For high-voltage cables, Indian manufacturers need government support perhaps in the form of duty exemption on imported raw material as there is no local supplier,” remarks Mr Krishna. “However, for low-voltage cables, India has adequate capacity and expertise.”
The time has come for the industry to raise the quality standards so that end users should prefer local products rather than cheap imports.
According to Mr Gupta, “Imports have historically been higher in power equipment space, but cables import was around $800 million in 2014 while market is around $5 billion which places it at 18 per cent. Moreover, most of the imports have been in wire space apart from specialized cables coming from Thailand, Korea and Germany.”
Raychem tends to gain with global competition coming in by benchmarking and ensuring competitive productivity levels. “Low cost of imported equipment ensures decent ROI and low initial investments,” explains Mr Sharma.
Many big players like ABB and Siemens are now localising their electrical components to remain competitive in the market which in turn is helping domestic industry.
Technological trends in the marketThe market is moving towards smart solutions and reducing human intervention. According to Mr Sharma, “The convergence of efforts towards minimising human errors and controlled energy consumption will emerge into new products which will revolutionise electrical industry. The government’s efforts towards renewable energy are taking centre stage and bound to become a success.”
While talking about the technological trends, Mr Krishna says that with growing energy demand and urbanisation, there is urgent need to overhaul India’s power distribution system. He also discuss about moving towards underground cables for safety and security reasons. Demand for high-voltage cables is picking up with growing energy demand and coming up of ultra-mega power projects. For solar and wind energy sectors, special high-voltage DC cables are required too.  

Advertising

 The new government, the new policies, the “Make In India’ initiative, and a mission to make India the choice for the production of electrical equipment and reach an output of $100 billion by balancing exports and imports, the wires and cables market is in a such position from where success is just a step away.
Growing wires and cables marketThe industrial and commercial segment is an important aspect for the growth of wires and cables market. “Wire and cable business growth is linked to power and infrastructure segment growth,” remarks Anil Krishna, Vice President, Borouge (India) Pvt. Ltd. “With auctioning of coal blocks to power producers, the sector is likely to show double digit growth for next 3-4 years.”
Industrial production grew at the rate of 3.2 per cent YoY in the past 3 months which seems to be on a lower side, considering the sentiments shown by SENSEX recently. “Current sentiments and capital market movement speak volumes of growth destined to hit India in years to come,” explains Himanshu Sharma, Sales Head – Industries & Contractors; OEMs, Railway, Hydrocarbon, Generation and SAARC; Energy Products Division; Raychem RPG. “The government will ensure to turn the recent cyclical recovery into a sustained boom. We are benefiting hugely from a worldwide slump in energy prices. Consumer-price inflation has come down to 5.1 per cent and current account deficit has shrunk with rupee being stable even under pressures.”
With this Raychem is bound to get good capital for structural reforms for which people of India have given powerful mandate to Modi Government. “I am sure next 5 years will be a transformational era and we should see industrial segment growing at an average of more than 7 per cent,” opines Mr Sharma. “With this we should see a rebound in cable industry in Q3-Q4 of FY16 at the rate of more than 15 per cent YoY.”
However, Nikhil Gupta, Executive Director – Cables, KEC International Ltd., sounds little cautious. His reason is that large part growth across manufacturing and infrastructure sector has been subdued. He adds, “Market sentiments have improved largely due to falling commodity prices but we are yet to see a turnaround. At the same time, the government has promised investment in railways, ports, smart cities renewable generation and distribution amongst others. This bodes well for cables market and we can expect it to grow annually at 10-12 per cent.”
Concern of growing importsImports have captured about 43 per cent of the market for electrical components in India. No doubt, it is a matter of serious concern. Wire and cable business is different than electrical component business, and imports come due to global competition in big power generation and distribution projects. “For high-voltage cables, Indian manufacturers need government support perhaps in the form of duty exemption on imported raw material as there is no local supplier,” remarks Mr Krishna. “However, for low-voltage cables, India has adequate capacity and expertise.”
The time has come for the industry to raise the quality standards so that end users should prefer local products rather than cheap imports.
According to Mr Gupta, “Imports have historically been higher in power equipment space, but cables import was around $800 million in 2014 while market is around $5 billion which places it at 18 per cent. Moreover, most of the imports have been in wire space apart from specialized cables coming from Thailand, Korea and Germany.”
Raychem tends to gain with global competition coming in by benchmarking and ensuring competitive productivity levels. “Low cost of imported equipment ensures decent ROI and low initial investments,” explains Mr Sharma.
Many big players like ABB and Siemens are now localising their electrical components to remain competitive in the market which in turn is helping domestic industry.
Technological trends in the marketThe market is moving towards smart solutions and reducing human intervention. According to Mr Sharma, “The convergence of efforts towards minimising human errors and controlled energy consumption will emerge into new products which will revolutionise electrical industry. The government’s efforts towards renewable energy are taking centre stage and bound to become a success.”
While talking about the technological trends, Mr Krishna says that with growing energy demand and urbanisation, there is urgent need to overhaul India’s power distribution system. He also discuss about moving towards underground cables for safety and security reasons. Demand for high-voltage cables is picking up with growing energy demand and coming up of ultra-mega power projects. For solar and wind energy sectors, special high-voltage DC cables are required too.  

Advertising