The Hindu Business Line : Electrical equipment sector to follow auto components methods

THE electrical equipment industry is trying to nurture its vendors to become competence centres in the same way that the automobile components industry has grown to be.

"We are trying to help our vendors create facilities; we are helping them to get bank loans to create models similar to that of the auto components industry," said Mr Ajay Dhagat, Managing Director of Areva T&D India Ltd and President of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association.

"Our vendors should be able to sell not only domestically but supply to global facilities too," he added.

If the power sector in India is being seen as the slow kid in a family of brilliant children consisting of telecom, automobile, and pharma, the growth of the power equipment industry points in the contrary direction, according to industry officials.

The sector has grown 16 per cent over the last year and is among the fastest growing sectors in the country today, Mr Dhagat said.

For an industry that is material-intensive to the extent of 60-70 per cent, price realisation too has picked up by about 20 per cent, according to IEEMA.

The electric equipment sector taking off is a sure sign that the power sector in the country is taking off, he added.

An indicative sign, according to him, has been the success of IEEMA's electrical exhibition, Elecrama 06, in Mumbai this year that fetched more than one lakh visitors this year.

The number of exhibitors at 1,069 increased by 50 per cent, while exhibition area doubled to one lakh sq ft. Foreign exhibitors numbered 175 and came from 35 different countries.

There was a separate section for the State electricity boards. There was a section devoted to engineering for rural and city distribution and another for energy savings; a special hall was reserved for the small-scale industry with the help of SIDBI on a concessional basis. Around 125 SSIs participated.

Fronted largely by "low-profile engineers", the power equipment industry is now trying to cut a more distinctive image.

IEEMA is now going to create regional offices and is also going to work closely with the Ministry of Energy and Renewable Energy, said Mr Dhagat.