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A visitor at the two-day international seminar and exhibition on lighting, `Vision 2004 - A Challenge', in Bangalore on Friday. — G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore , Nov. 21

CAUGHT between unassailable MNC dominance and the growing Chinese challenge, domestic lighting manufacturers could, perhaps, see some hope in contract manufacturing in the years to come, according to an industry expert.

Big brands in lighting, according to Mr Hari S. Mamak, Vice-President, Board of Management, International Commission on Illumination, and former director at Philips, are being challenged by machine-made non-brands. While significant domestic players have started looking outwards for supply, MNCs have started to look at India as an outsourcing centre. A future win-win trend could be licensed manufacturing from brand majors, he told Business Line.

Mr Mamak was in Bangalore for the two-day international seminar and exhibition on lighting, Vision 2004, organised by the Indian Society of Lighting Engineers on November 21 and 22.

The focus of the industry, Mr Mamak said, is shifting from the US to the Far East, with China setting itself on an ambitious growth course in the lighting sector too. At a time when the Chinese are opting for mechanisation and large-scale production, India should get into the small-scale, custom-driven market by adapting itself to smaller capacities and new design requirements.

The Rs 3,500-crore domestic lighting industry, growing at 8 per cent annually, is one of the few sectors to see continuous growth in recent years when all others reported a dip. The next five years are worth watching for the technological and market-related changes this industry will experience. MNCs dominate up to 60 per cent of lamp production and 40 per cent of luminaries and fittings, with players such as Philips, GE, Wipro, Osram, Surya, Crompton and Indo Asian ruling the roost.

At present, Indian lighting exports are only 10 per cent of the total production, or a negligible share in the international market share. The aim is to take this to 3 per cent of the global share or 25-30 per cent of the output. However, unless half the production is exported, India cannot expect to make a mark on the world scene that is tipped to see a huge demand in the coming years. The focus is now on low-tech, low-priced products. This should change from a volumes game and India should start tapping the lucrative West Asia apart from neighbouring markets, Mr Mamak said.

China, in contrast, has already touched 5 per cent of the world market and is steadily going for 15 per cent market share in the near term.

Mr Mamak regretted that Indian manufacturers have been taking it easy with a good domestic market.

This must change or they would lose out. In recent times, the decorative home lighting scene has been taken over by the Chinese and all major national names have closed their facilities and become traders for Chinese products.

A greater involvement of the Bureau of Indian Standards, he said, will ensure that Indian exports are protected on the quality front and also block cheap Chinese ingress.

The industry is also banking on de-reservation of the luminaries-accessories segments for SSIs.

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