TBEA India aims to be No. 1 in transformer space

“We consider India as a biggest market. Our vision is to be number one player in Indian transformer market within next 5 to 7 years,” says Ashish Srivastava, AGM and Head – Business Development, India, TBEA
TBEA Shenyang is one of the largest manufacturers of transformers in China. The company has set up a facility in India and aims to provide totally ‘Indianised’ products for local market. In an interview with Subhajit Roy, Ashish Srivastava outlines the company’s strategies towards becoming a complete Indian player.
TBEA is into power transmission business for last 70 years. How do you look at the journey of TBEA in India?Our parent company TBEA Shenyang Transformer Group, China has come up with a very clear vision about the business context in India. Earlier, we have participated as TBEA Shenyang and succeeded getting many orders of 765 kV transformer and reactors from Powergrid. We consider India as a biggest market. Therefore, we have come up with a manufacturing plant in Vadodara, Gujarat with 100 per cent FDI. Our vision is to be number one player in Indian transformer market within next 5 to 7 years.
What are the strategies you have in place to reach the number one spot?Firstly, we have come up with the plant which is the most automated plant in the country. The manufacturing operations of this plant will take place in the three phases – transformer reactor, GIS and cable, and then the solar. Our objective is to cater the complete T&D solution to the customers and we want to be in the grid from all aspects. We will be completing all the three phases in coming years.
Secondly, we don’t have any JV or any tie-up so that in later stage we will not have any problem in terms of execution of our strategies and plan. It is complete hold of our parent company.
Thirdly, we are making this unit completely ‘Indianised’ which reflects how we want to do business in India. Most of our employees are Indians. We are picking the experts from the industry who understand the business, clients, products, and technicality of products. So we are making the mix of all the best to have the target business for us.
How is the competitiveness in the market?Competition is quite tough because of the pricing. Also, some important players already exist in the market.
Are you facing any kind of difficulties being a having the Chinese connection?Trust level among the customers is the biggest challenge. At times, it becomes difficult for us to convince customers. It is a common phenomenon about Chinese products that they are not good in quality – we are also feeling that heat.

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