Startflux LED from Gurugram-based MLTC Energy India Pvt. Ltd. is a newly-introduced brand in the country’s lighting industry, which claims to be very deeply-driven with the sense of self discipline, diligence, positivity, responsibility and professionalism with a will to learn & adapt to changes, making things easier by providing the most comfortable light & convenient services to its customers.
We, at LED World, caught up with V. S. Hooda, the company’s director to discuss about his vision & mission that led the company to draft its future growth strategy. Here’s what he shared with us:
What is your way forward in the country’s lighting industry?
We are a forward-thinking innovation & technology-driven company with a strong desire to create futuristic lighting products accessible & affordable to all. We offer a one-stop solution for all the lighting needs right from indoor to outdoor, commercial to industrial, retail to residential. From concept design, to development, to testing, to delivering the most innovative LED lights, products offered by us are crafted to meet international standards in terms of quality, safety, performance, energy efficiency, cost-effectiveness & durability.
How has been the company’s infrastructure?
We have a very strong infrastructure. Spread across 14,000 sqft, our plant is located in Manesar near Gurugram in Haryana. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is fully-equipped with the most advanced equipment to follow modern methods of automated production processes that mitigates human error & faulty products, promising a more reliable, consistent LED light every time. Being ISO, TuV-certified, we have all the needed infrastructure including SMT line and MI line, backed by a very strong R&D to make sure that every light made by us are tested rigorously & checked thoroughly to deliver the best products.
We do outsource dye-casting, besides LEDs, optics and drivers – all from respective reputed vendors. With all this in-house, we aim to fulfil future energy and lighting needs by providing the most efficient, safe, durable, elegant, eco-friendly and comfortable lights leading to a brighter, better, beautiful world. In short, we are here to stay with quality lighting products.
What made you enter into the lighting industry?
We are into the power project business that includes transmission lines and substations. There are various such lighting projects, which amounts more than 5,000 streetlights per year. This showed us the way to foray in to the lighting business, especially streetlights. Though, we started with streetlights to target those big projects, soon realised that we need to add commercial and residential lighting as well to our portfolio.
Which other segments do you offer your products to?
We have a gamut of products’ variants to serve the varied needs of the market depending upon the illumination requirements. As far as products are concerned, if you have limited range, you can’t survive. So, we have full range of lighting solutions – be it indoor or outdoor, catering to the needs of various segments that include commercial, residential, healthcare & hospitality to present a basket to our clientele. There’s still a lot is to be added in this basket.
As far as bulbs and tubes are concerned, we were actually not interested, but following the requirements from the market, we couldn’t keep ourselves away from it. If you believe, despite having started with streetlights, our first invoice was that of bulbs and tubes/battens. This makes me believe that manufacturing can’t simply drive the market, but market keeps driving the manufacturing.
How has been the response from projects?
We have two types of offering – standard and made-to-order depending upon the client’s specific requirements. We are interested in government projects across the country. Initially, we started with Haryana, and now expanding our reach to Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and MP. There are some enquiries from our clients, who are catering to a few government projects.
What is the USP of Starflux products?
For streetlights, we have IP-67-rated products. With this thought that words may not make that impact, we wanted to virtually express the features of our IP-67 rated streetlights that most of the customers get inquisitive about. The one that is kept under water with beautiful fishes inside the tub shows that there isn’t any leakage of current as even 1V of power can be dangerous for the fishes, plying inside the tub around the lighting unit which has been in operation since long to demonstrate its water-proofing attribute. Let me tell you that this is also dust-proof and is fully fit for outdoor applications withstanding the harsh Indian weather conditions.
Where do you get the designs from?
All our lights are indigenously developed. Most of our designs are patented. For designs, we have exclusive tie-up with designers to produce and offer fresh and innovative designs to our clientele. We are soon going to introduce our range of smart lights, which can be connected, operated, and controlled through Bluetooth-enabled devices. Many of our current collections can be operated using a remote control. We do have kept the options open for installing sensors in our lights, provided the customer is willing to. But, for now, the market is not ready for those feature-rich products as it would certainly add to the cost.
What is the prospect of lighting industry?
The lighting industry has very good prospects. At least, for next three to four years the CAGR will be around 20 to 22%. After making BIS mandatory, the next move is the inclusion of star-rating by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). While BIS would certify the products, BEE would render star-ratings based on the performance standard of those products. Once it becomes mandatory for all the LED lighting products being sold in the Indian market, the substandard quality would be subsided automatically.
How do you market your products?
Though majorly, we are focusing on government projects, we have solutions for many segments which eventually make it necessary to rope in a network of dealers. For now, we have around 12 dealers. We want to augment this number further to soon make our presence felt at least in the major cities of the country. We are also there on the online-platform, where we are partnering with the online marketing giants, Amazon and Flipkart to market our battens & bulbs. We will later include other products depending upon the market response and requirement.
