LED industry is seeing a positive future in view of favorable policies by Govt. of India. Less import duty on LEDs have mad LEDs extremely popular in Commercial, Industrial & Domestic applications. But increasing trend towards LEDs needs Govt. support for domestic manufacturing LEDs. In addition, to compete with Chinese leadership in Indian market, Tax structure needs to be redefined.
Although the electricity produced by solar energy generation or other renewable sources, is pollution free & renewable, the generation cost is very high, so the equivalent concern is to harness the electricity efficiently. In this contest Ministry of New & Renewable Energy and Bureau of Energy Efficiency promote LED used in lighting solutions.
– Dr. Pradeep Chandra Pant, Director at MNRE – HRD & Innovative Projects
Value of current Indian Lighting Industry is approx USD 2000 million. Indian Lighting Market is expected to grow at 12-15% CAGR in value from 2010 to 2020, expected value in 2020 is USD 708 Billion. (Ref: Frost & Sullivan). LED Lamps and luminaries exhibit strongest growth trends among all lighting technologies. The LED lighting market in India has gained prominence with increasing energy efficiency awareness and a growing Green energy drive. Shops, Hospitality and Outdoor are the most attractive segment for LED Lighting.
Like any other industry of the country, LED industry is also been influenced by government policies. Restrictive tax structure with a high VAT of 14.5 per cent obstructs LED lighting penetration. Reduction and a uniform VAT structure across all states will increase penetration. Exemption for capital goods for LED light manufacture will encourage manufacturers to enhance the manufacturing ecosystem. As far as IP development is concerned, with approval from the Ministry, 3 more testing facilities are to be established in three regions in the country. Setting up of design houses, both for product and components, will create a labor pool and also enhance design capabilities locally. Product awareness across the value chain is an immediate necessity to promote adoption and penetration and thus bypass the volume issue for manufacturing.
Considering the market size of Led lighting in India, local design activity of driver circuits, heat sink and LED can be incentivized by granting R&D credit. Photometry is a crucial part in product development and can be encouraged through academia-industrial collaborations. With a large presence of local PCB development, thr driver circuit board itself has the potential to be indigenized. Grant of tax credit for local sourcing will further strengthen high value addition in the value chain. With the growing shift to LED, there is going to be a tremendous demand for this market. LED chips being the most expensive component in the product, there arises a need for setting up LED wafer fabs in the country. LED wafer fabs, along with the testing facilities, will not only prevent the import of sub-standard light fittings but also increase the local value addition. Also standardization of LED based is very important. Ministry must mandate technical specifications in order to manufacture standardized lamps. The Government could extend support to mandate new or secondary roads to be replaced with LED fittings. All Government projects can include self-ballasted LED lamps. The Ministry of Power (MoP) can provide at least one LED lamp under the “electricity to all villages” scheme. These initiatives will bypass the volume issue and lead to constant high value add manufacturing which can be considered for exports in the long term.
Conclusion
Indian commercial & domestic applications are ready to take up LED & LEDs based lighting systems as a 100% lighting medium, but doing it with imported products, won’t be in favor of industry. Mofications are required to give future ready LED business a boast.
