Ayana Energy Pvt. Ltd. is an LED lighting solution company that is 100% Indian-owned and -operated. It is based in Hyderabad with operations in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The company started its operations in 2013 with smaller base to gain experience in handling projects and providing customised solutions to its clients within the vicinity of Hyderabad.
Gradually, it started expanding its operational efficiencies as well as capabilities to handle bigger projects across other cities. Today, Ayana Energy is associated with some prestigious clients and prides itself on its well-experienced team, the approach of which towards engineering manufacturing of LED lights ensures that lights integrate a host of innovative features and have top-notch quality.
We, at LED World, caught up with Mamtha Mengarthy, Director, Ayana Energy to know more about the company’s future plans and how it is strategising its growth trajectory. Here’s the edited excerpt to follow:
What made you enter the lighting industry?
The company was established by my husband, Sundeep Mengarthy and me. Sundeep comes from the lighting industry and I am from the field of electronics manufacturing. We saw tremendous potential in this energy-efficient technology as it has the power to revolutionise the field of lighting. LED lighting, as you know, is environmental-friendly and consumes less power in comparison to conventional lighting. Both these features are the need of the hour. It was six years ago that we decided to conjugate our experiences and become a part of this revolution.
You mentioned that design is Ayana Energy’s passion. What all goes in designing?
The innate small size of LEDs and the ability to control them paves way to endless flexibility in lighting design. This flexibility has driven our passion to constantly innovate our products. Clever design and innovative thinking are central to our company’s drive for efficient and aesthetic LED lighting products.
It is important to update ourselves and our products with the advancements in technology, so as to be able to keep up pace with the market and also to offer the latest to our clients. We, therefore, come up with new products from time to time. For example, we have recently introduced a cost-effective dimmable/colour tunable lighting system for those customers who do not prefer the expensive home automation system.
We put a great deal of R&D followed by stringent testing procedure before zeroing in on any design. Each and every product designed here is subject to hours of scrutiny, rigorous testing and evaluation, ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements and standards.
Why Ayana Energy took its time to explore outside Hyderabad?
We were first generation entrepreneurs with a new brand. We started with small projects as we did not want to rush to an expanded market. We let ourselves grow organically and took time to establish ourselves in Hyderabad. Gradually, we moved on to handling big projects and are now associated with some prestigious clients. Further, we have expanded to other cities – Vizag, Vijayawada and Bangalore. We are currently working on expanding to other major cities.
How do you market the brand? Who are your target customers?
We have a direct sales channel that is in contact with architects, interior designers and contractors. This category of clients has regular requirement of lighting for their numerous customers. Apart from them, we are in direct contact with B2B clients like software companies, infrastructure companies, healthcare companies, companies with retail outlets/showrooms, etc. Such clients tend to have requirements for their expanding business in same city or other cities.
We have recently started participating in government tenders that will allow us to expand our customer base segment.
Which all lighting applications do you cater to?We offer both indoor and outdoor lighting solutions. Based on the dimensions and other factors, we provide lighting design for various applications in domestic, architectural, industrial, solar or commercial setup, whether new or existing. Our experienced team visits the space/site to be illuminated, evaluates the lighting requirements and prepares a lighting design ensuring effective illumination, besides saving on energy usage.
Where do you manufacture these LED lighting products?
We have a facility in Hyderabad that houses a dedicated & efficient team which is responsible for the assembly, testing, marketing and sales of our products. All our products are designed and developed in India using the best quality components, from both local and overseas suppliers.
How do you see the prospects of the country’s LED lighting industry?
As mentioned earlier, there is no doubt about the potential of this industry. This, coupled with low entry barriers, has let the domestic market flooded with many new players. This is, however, leading to an intense price war, because of which Indian market is experiencing one of the lowest prices in the world. This is badly impacting the growth & development of the industry especially, when it comes to R&D. In the near future, we foresee consolidation, when only serious players will be left in the industry. All this would lead to an automatic price correction after which the industry will more or less be stabilised.
As you said, the industry is flooded with innumerable unbranded players. Why do people opt for Ayana Energy?
At Ayana Energy, we focus not only on selling our products but also on building relationships. To our customers, we also offer the experiences of our services along with LED lights. These services have helped us develop good rapport with clients and encourage them to choose us as their lighting partner.
Right from the time of enquiry, our design team gets in touch with the client – they visit the site and gain an understanding of the requirement. Based on this, they prepare an optimum lighting design, suitable for the site, and at the same time, allows effective energy usage.
We have the capability to customise our products for clients that have specific requirements. We offer quality products and high warranty periods. We guide & assist our clients as and when they require us during the installation period. And more importantly, we are one of the few companies that provide on-site warranty.
How do plan your future endeavor?
So far, we have developed a sizeable client base in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. We now plan to spread our wings over to other states in India. We have started participating in Government Tenders that will provide us in roads to serving reputable Government Organizations.
We would like to further our business to the next level by offering OEM services, for which we have been receiving enquiries. Meanwhile, the Government of Telangana plans to set up an LED Lighting park on the outskirts of Hyderabad, as a part of the initiative to encourage LED Lighting companies. Being part of this initiative would also help us meeting our objective of expanding our manufacturing capabilities.
CASE STUDY – 1
A software company that was established in the 1990s in Hyderabad is now a million-dollar firm with operations in different cities in India and overseas. We approached this client with an introduction to the energy efficient LED Lighting and offered them a proposal to replace their existing conventional lighting with the equivalent in LED Lighting, with which they could save more than 50% energy and thereby considerably reduce their power & maintenance expenses.
We have successfully replaced their conventional lighting, across 5 cities, with our LED lighting. This customer was satisfied with our lights and was particularly appreciative of the reduction in their power expenditure. They now prefer LED Lighting to conventional lighting for their new branches and we are their official partner for LED lights. As on today we have supplied more than 10,000 LED lights to this customer.
CASE STUDY – 2
A digital media marketing company was relocating its office to a bigger space, where the decorator wanted us to provide lighting that was contemporary, unique and in sync with the interiors of the new office space. We custom-designed linear lights for them that were as long as 46 feet linear light for the conference room, 22 feet for the reception area and hexagonal lights for the meeting rooms. These lights were developed & tested in house at Ayana Energy and the feedback from the client for these lights was overwhelming.
