Eon Electric Ltd expects to garner about Rs 100 crore from its new range of LED (light-emitting diode or lighting device) products in two years. The company, which manufactures and markets high-tech electrical products, has launched a new range comprising LED bulbs, tubes and street lights lamps, among others.

The Noida-based company sells its products under the ‘Eon’ brand. “By this year-end, we will make 100,000 lamps a day, from the current 50,000,” Eon Electric CMD Ved Prakash Mahendru told Business Line . “The new range will add Rs 100 crore to the top-line and the margins will be around 15 per cent.”

The other LED brands available in India include those from Philips, Osaram and a few imported from China. LED is a comparatively new and expensive technology. CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) is more popular and cheaper. While an LED bulb would cost anything between Rs 400 and Rs 800, CFL bulbs are available from around Rs 100 apiece.

But, CFL is known to cause pollution as it carries mercury. According to the 80-year-old executive, better technology and mass production of LEDs can make it cheaper. Moreover, LED is believed to be around twice as energy-efficient as CFL. Eon, which manufactures LED products at its Haridwar plant, has spent Rs 40 crore to roll out the new range.

“We plan to invest an additional Rs 250 crore in the next two years. This is for setting up facilities and a testing laboratory. The laboratory can be used by other companies too,” Mahendru added.

Eon has cash reserves of around Rs 100 crore and is looking to borrow an additional Rs 150-200 crore via debt. The company has also devised street lights with auto electronic controls.

As LED lights have a sound electronic base, these lights can easily be sensor-controlled for brightness.

This helps in saving power — street lights can be switched on or off depending on the sunlight available and the traffic density on the road.

siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in

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