LEDs are becoming popular with every passing day. High energy saving, low costs, modular designs & ease of use have make LEDs lighting 1st choice in industrial, commercial and domestic applications. So is Indian lighting market is ready to opt for LED based lighting as a 100% lighting medium, are CFL & traditional bulbs are completely out of industry, are we going to manufacture LED domestically or will be all imported. We invite industry giants to answer these questions and here is our
The government of Andhra Pradesh along with EESL (Energy Efficiency Service Ltd) is introducing a new scheme called DELP (Demand Side Management based Efficient Lighting Program) under which one can exchange 2 nos of ICLs in usage with 2 nos of LEDs bulbs worth Rs. 400/- each, just by paying Rs. 10/- for each.
These are very positive steps from the government to support LED Lighting in India. Frost & Sullivan estimates the Indian LED lighting market at $143 million, less than 4% of the overall lighting market. The business is expected to grow at a CAGR of 47.3% between 2012 and 2018, to touch $1.3 billion by 2018, or 15-20% of overall lighting. The proportion of the organized LED market will change by 2018. Its share will go up to 75%, because by then LED standards will be set.
“Is India Ready for Energy Efficient LED Lighting As 100% Lighting Medium”, the answer should be yes in terms of LED advantages, of energy efficiency, etc, but at the same time, factors like high costing, Bill of import, awareness & govt. support are some of the factors restricting option of LEDs even in commercial & metropolis domestic applications. As far as Govt. policies are concerned, restrictive tax structure with a high VAT of 14.5 percent obstructs LED lighting penetration. Reduction in the VAT and a uniform VAT structure across all states will increase penetration of LEDs in existing lighting areas. Mandating BIS technical specifications to standardize manufacturing processes and products, is another important step should be taken by central Govt on imported LED lamps that should also be tested rigorously to prevent dumping of goods in the local market, in view of long terms tern future of LEDs in India. LED being a scattered industry broken into segments like, LED importers or manufacturers, drivers manufacturers or providers, lighting systems providers and solution providers, the concerns from various perspectives are different on 100% adaption of LEDs. Following are the feedbacks from some of the giants from LED manufacturers & Lighting products & solution providers on our future lighten up by LEDs.
Avni Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Gururaja G., Founder – Director highlighted his views on increasing LED industry as, over the years, industry have seen the bloom in the Indian LED market. In the early days, LED Lights were just seen in posh buildings and for decoration purposes. Now, we can proudly claim that we have supplied it to rural regions across India in huge quantities-in fact many villages have been covered in our projects. Speaking on future of LEDs, it is observed that, initially, it was tough to convince people about the initial investments. But, development of low cost Lighting products and with urban developments, domestic & industrial lighting have become huge market. We have been supplying various products such as High Bay Lights, Industrial Tube Lights, Well Glass Lights, Flame Proof Lights etc to our industrial clients. In the domestic sector, bulbs, tube lights, down lighters, corridor lights have become an integral part of LED Industry. Not to forget the street lights and flood lights, which are being supplied to various municipal corporations, government organizations, industries for area lighting. These will soon be integrated with smart lighting townships to have better control over the power consumption and to monitor the faults, if any, remotely. In view of upcoming trends, Avni energy, have come up with Thermo-grade plastic bulbs with plastic heat sink instead of aluminum, which would sustain the heat and work out economically from the consumer’s point of view. Also, it has been designed to have better aesthetics. Commenting on govt policies, Mr. Gururaja said that, yes, there have been numerous tenders from various government organizations. Recently, one of the governments has come up with distributing Led Bulbs at a price competitive with any conventional light. The government procures bulbs from the suppliers and for promotional activity, sells it at nominal prices. Such initiatives help in the development of the Industry. Also, similar activities are to be done in other regions and probably, a subsidy for LED users may further promote the LED Business.
Kwality Photonics Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. K. Vijaykumar Gupta – Managing Director, talked with us on LED industry of India, LEDs consumption is today at take off stage & will grow exponentially at 50-80% rate initially. One can safely claim that over 50% of newly built houses have some level of LED fittings. With BEE/EESL supported purchases from government utilities taking off in a big way this year, the penetration of Energy efficient LED lighting will hit a new peak this year. Many of Kwality Photonics customers are quite happy meeting the domestic and commercial consumer’s requirements without touching the government sector, which will ultimately move into the domain of large players with capacity to invest as ESCO players. Talking about new innovations, The 600 Lumens B22 bulbs will make a big entry this year. Consuming just 7-9 watts of power, they form the DSM- Demand Side management of power consumption by the municipal & power distribution Companies. Tubes light are also fairly mature, as are the Down-lights. Thanks to availability of new lower cost 2835 & 5730 packaged LEDs, such as Kwality’s KLSL2835W in 24 Lm as well as in 65lm at path breaking prices, the affordability of LEDs has gone up enormously, with many Indian makers able to compete with Chinese prices , yet providing comfort of Backup in terms of service after sales. Energy efficiency of LEDs is touching 140 Lm per watt commercially. Most LED bulbs (Rs 300) are delivering 90-100 Lm per watt & 25000 hrs after accounting for the losses in the diffuser envelope body , a 8 fold jump on traditional Bulbs( Rs15), making it a great bargain. The cost of energy saved is direct income to the user after 2.5 years, makes the user feel proud of being eco-friendly citizen of this plant. Commenting on Govt. Policies, LED components are a commoditized, and need very large volume capacity at high capex. The present policy of DEITY is yet to unconditionally assure a share in the government purchases. Such high investments will be difficult to come by given the great bias in BEE/ government tenders favoring few Global brands and with MSME sector swamped by Chinese imports. As far as the LED bulbs & fitments is concerned, the Govt. purchases are drafted to keep out the MSME manufacturers, as per LEDMA.
With a wide series of optical reflector systems, Khatod is able to offer a real “Can do” opportunity in the most advanced projects using the High Brightness COB LEDs of latest generation.
Continental Device India Ltd
Mr. Prithvideep Singh – Strategic Marketing Director, commented on LED Industry in India, there are two macro trends that are gaining steam in this sector, Price Drop and Increase in Energy Efficiency: This trend favors the immediate short term benefits of cost savings that will help the adoption of the technology especially in commercial, industrial and roadway sectors where capital is available to make the switch, long hours of usage are prevalent and ROIs are diligently calculated. Digital Lighting: LEDs take lighting and move it into the digital realm. The magical realm is where lighting is heading and the initial products are just hitting the market. At Dynel our first product using a Capacitive Touch Panel to control the color and intensity of LED strip lights is in final stages of R&D and will be launched at the festive Christmas time. Nothing encourages consumer consumption more than the ability to see new innovations in the market. The first thing to realize is that LEDs are already the cheapest form of lighting in the market today. We need to start viewing LEDs the way we do our cars, i.e. they have an upfront cost and a running cost. Thus educating the market to think like this is one of the main ways to encourage the switch to LEDs and show how they are already comparative in terms of costing. This is the case without even taking replacement costs of CFLs and Incandescent into account due to their limited life-spans.
Khatod OptoElectronics
Marina Rossi, Marketing & Communication
Although analysts and other industry experts may differ in their estimates of the size of the LED Lighting market, they all agree that the LED Lighting opportunity is huge and will have a great impact on energy conservation and on our economy.
Particularly, most populous nations such as India are inherently large markets for deployment of LED Lighting, ranging from the most futuristic applications the most common lighting applications of everyday life. However, LEDs, from Mini-Power, Mid-Power and Power LEDs to the most recent developments such as High Brightness LEDs and COB LEDs, will give the best performance only when paired with the most proper optic or optical system in the final lighting application. Khatod, intercepted these new requirements from the market three decades ago. Our solutions are well prepared to meet the wake of innovation just promoted in India with the Energy Conservation Mission’s Demand Side Efficient Lighting Program (DELP) recently launched by the Indian ministry.
Khatod solutions offer a great opportunity to meet the requirements of energy conservation and cost efficiency. As a tangible example of what we state, Khatod has recently launched on the market, the world’s first range of silicon lenses for HB & COB LEDs, enabling to optimize the use of these LEDs in the most cutting-edge applications. During LED EXPO 2014 event in New Delhi, at Khatod booth, besides SIO3 Lenses you will find also our new developments to the industry such as the latest SMART expansions of Nactus Optical system lines, as well as stock & shop lenses enabling easy conversion from old conventional fluorescent lamp technology to LED lighting technology.
Philips Lumileds
Mr. Amrith Prabhu – Country Manager, told us that, Philips Lumileds studies the market’s demands and we foresee that the demand for LEDs in India will continue to increase >40% year over year for the next few years. The Indian market scenario is slightly different from the global.
Although traditional lighting technologies like compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) and high intensity discharge (HID) lamp are still in the mainstream, LED is forecasted to take the lead position in the next one to three years. LED streetlight has been adopted at the fastest pace in the country and has been the major application. In 2014, the industry saw a major transition that happened for indoor LED lights. Down-lights have started picking up as they have become affordable, significantly improving the Total Cost of Ownership ( TCO). LED lamps have not been adapted to a great extent.
However at present, we can also see the trend of LED bulbs coming up especially with the large government driven projects under DELP Scheme (Demand Side Management based Efficient Lighting Program). Talking about the upcoming market trends, as per Mr. Prabhu, the opportunity for LEDs in the general illumination segment for residential, commercial buildings and industrial applications has most recently emerged. This segment is niche and has significant potential for market transformation towards LED lighting. LED technology has been globally recognized as extremely efficient and eco-friendly in comparison with conventional lighting technologies.
Several strategies have been considered to promote LED lighting in India with demand aggregation being the key initiative. In the domestic segment, the biggest market across the world is of the retrofit lamps. Retrofit bulbs or replacement bulbs are gaining popularity in India also, as a result of their low energy and running costs and incentive projects driven by the Government. LEDs for the industrial segment perhaps have been the slowest moving market. However, with the portfolio of LED lights increasing for the industrial sector, it is also gaining traction in applications like Industrial High Bay, Batten &Wellglass applications. Some of the new innovations Philips is doing are Lumileds LUXEON Array LEDs deliver the highest efficacy that is the available in the market today with lowest thermal resistance, which is almost 4X better than competing products.
LUXEON CoBs have the smallest Light Emitting Surface (LES) and the best uniformity. This enables the highest efficacy product in the least expensive systems to even compete with conventional lights.
Laaj LED Lights Ltd.
Mr. Suniil Jagwani – Director, put light on his views on Indian LED industry, As per Mr. Jagwani, definitely LED industry will increase as more & more people are aware of the benefits of LED lighting, esp. Govt dept are focusing more on energy saving methods which enable Country so save on huge electricity demands. Adopting LED Lights will help to govt to electrify more new rural places as its saving energy compared to any other lighting form. For domestic sector LED Bulb will be leading mass selling product followed by LED Tube Light. For Industrial sector LED Street Lights & LED Flood Lights will command a huge share compared to any other product. In future we will see variety of designs in the Architectural Lighting as with LED Light we can do lot of customizations as per the clients requirement.
Opple Lighting India Pvt. Ltd.
Mr. Naveen Saxena – Country Head and Mr. Avinash Chandra – Head Marketing shared their views on Indian LED industry growth at 50% per annum and expected to reach $400 million by 2015, as per Industry estimates. The market would evolve much faster as the technology becomes more efficient and affordable. By 2020 India would move to 80% share of LED products in Lighting. I may not be able to give an exact growth figure for the future, but considering the rising demand for LED lights, I believe that the trend is highly positive, progressive and the growth will be outstanding. Speaking on latest LED trends, India, being a very important market for LED technology sees consumers who are aware and are open to new technologies. People perceive LED technology with high interest which is mainly driven by two reasons. The first is a shortage of energy coupled with rising costs, & the second side to the coin is the rise in awareness amongst potential consumers. They now understand that they can cut down on expenses, with longer lasting power saving products. This is where the Indian consumers are showing interest and adapting to newer lighting technologies. Consumers now want to invest in technologies that are hassle free, energy efficient and that which offers a high value for money. On making LEDs, more cost comparative, Opple believes in taking their customers and potential customers very seriously. Our pricing strategy is designed by customer feedback. There is a huge measure of interest in LED technologies in the Indian market but at the same time, the market is very price sensitive. Customer enquiries are based on the ‘value for money’ proposition. Consumers are focused more on spending on the technology and its benefits rather than the tilt towards paying for the brand premium. This is one point where Opple is bang on – product pricing. Opple offers lighting solutions at very competitive prices. Talking about Govt, policies, they said, that the Ministry of Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) have been driving initiatives such as distribution of solar LED lanterns in villages to promote energy-efficient lighting. The government has made efforts to boost energy efficient lighting technologies by opting for LED’s for street lighting in key cities and for architectural lighting of national monuments.
Panasonic
Yoshiyuki Kato – Director Lighting, commented on growing LED consumption in India, The LED lighting market growth is more than 140%. Though the LED segment has grown slowly, eventually it will be the trending growth segment for all Lighting equipment manufacturers. Talking about market trends, domestic lighting has seen a sudden surge in usage of LED lighting. 80% of this market is flooded with Chinese & cheap quality products but in near future we see that it will change as consumer will move toward quality & reliable LED lighting products. In industrial lighting currently due to the initial high cost of LED customers are not opting aggressively for Industrial LED lighting but in future with the price reduction it has a wide scope for usage. In view of increasing LED demand in India, Anchor intends to start the assembly in India. We have ensured competitive pricing and our range is equipped to cater to demands of residential, commercial, retail and hospitality segments. The standpoint of the range remains “reliable lighting” for these premises. On favorable Govt policies, the central government as well as state governments are initiating LED lighting projects, especially for the LED street lights and LED bulbs. Recently, the Ministry of Power has announced 10 Rs LED bulb scheme. However, standards of quality for LED’s are required to be governed as low-rate Chinese products have flooded the lighting market.
Conclusions
Increasing awareness & price compatibility have make LED industry growing with a brisk & promises a bright & unwavering future pushing many international & domestic companies to manufacturer in-house LEDs & lighting solutions. Set quality standards for LEDs import is one of the major concerns with LED companies to push out Chinese & low standard manufacturers out of the market. As a concluding point, “Indian LED industry will soon be mature, favored by Government policies & economical stability”.
