This newly-established entity is one of the few to have forayed with so many promises to meet in its way to become number three player in five years.
Kolkata-based Century LED Ltd. has stepped on to the country’s domestic LED lighting turf around six months back with the unveiling of its flagship brand – Magik. However, being new on the floor isn’t holding back the company from envisaging itself amongst the top three players in five years from now. Speaking with LED World, the company’s Business Head, Anirudh Kajaria unveils his vision and mission in a very subtle manner while counting on his strengths that comprise a state-of-the-art manufacturing unit, a fully equipped lab for R&D, a thorough quality assessment process, and an experienced team of the leaders from respective domains to carve out an unbeaten growth trajectory for the company.
Boasting on the manufacturing prowess, Kajaria informs that the state-of-the-art plant is located in Srijan Logistic Park near Howrah. “Spanning over 60,000 sq ft with initial installed capacity of about 10 mn units per annum, it sets a perfect example of ‘Make in India’. We have invested over Rs. 45 cr. in the plant to ensure good quality manufacturing standards of the products and to make them in line with the best global brands in the respective product categories. We are committed to quality maintenance and are greatly involved in R&D to ensure technologically evolved products,” he avers adding that with this brand, the company will target customers who are aesthetically inclined and are inspired by global lighting and décor trends.
The newly introduced brand Magik represents a vast portfolio of products within a price range of Rs. 70 to Rs. 20,000, which included bulbs, candles and domes; battens and tubes, panels – surface , recessed and tiles; down-lighters, spot lights; bulk heads, ceiling lights, flood lights and street lights. “All the products in our range is carefully crafted and designed to cater to the consumer’s every need. In a range of over 200 easy-to-fit products, which come in varied shapes and sizes, each product seamlessly finds its place at homes, offices, commercial space,” he says adding that most of these are manufactured in-house including drivers and printed circuit boards, while bulbs, tubes, streetlights and floodlights are getting assembled here.
“These products are designed and manufactured in-house where we are really concerned while going deep in the details of what the heat management is, how good is the quality of LEDs, what is the lumen output, how reliable are the electronics and drivers that we are taking in, etc. By going step-by-step but rigorous way, we make sure that quality products should reach our customers. Also, today ‘Make In India’ is catching very fast to which India is more competitive than China, at least, in view of certain products,” explains Kajaria adding that the company is focusing on to insure the highest specifications in the industry. “We have a very large range to serve almost all the lighting related requirements of our customers.”
Amidst the discussion, he cautiously points out that the competition of Magik isn’t there with any particular brand. “This is because there are some brands, which are very strong in some products and some are stronger in other products. Since, we are playing with a large & pretty diversified products’ basket with a mix of professional & retail, we are benchmarking ourselves continuously to various leading brands. And by doing this, we don’t really mean matching only, but also surpassing the specs that a lot of these brands offer. So, our aim is to provide products with higher level of specs but at affordable prices,” he says.
Going forward, he claims that Magik is designed to provide the best lighting experience that will recreate the imagination in modern living spaces ensuring minimum hassle for the buyers. “The aim is to break through in the cluttered LED lighting market through the cutting edge technology and well-researched products and with the pre-defined brand philosophy of ‘performance that delights’, Magik has the potential to make its mark. We intend to provide the best after sales service in the category with direct consumer touch points and minimum hassles. Backed by a team of experts possessing years of experience in the lighting market and our highly equipped manufacturing facility, we are confident of a service that will delight our customers,” he asserts.
Commenting on the quality-check process, Kajaria underscores, “All of our products are conceived at our design lab in Kolkata, where each and every parameter is meticulously defined and selected. Our engineers involved in rigorous R&D, select LEDs that deliver high lumens and colour accuracies from specific lots or ‘bins’. These LEDs are then fitted or assembled inside the specially designed housings that ensure proper heat dissipation. The electronic driver is made or designed to withstand harsh Indian electrical voltage variations due to unabated power fluctuations. Lastly, each product is tested on our in-house goniophotometer to ensure the right light output, making it truly worthy for spaces of their installations.”
Speaking on the reliability of the LEDs that go in Magik, Kajaria says that once the specific bins are selected, LEDs are carefully chosen to produce high-efficiency products, as component performance may vary in terms of rendition of colour, forward voltage and flux even within the same batch. “We have installed in a big dark room where our mirror goniophotometer tests and records data on the luminous intensity distribution curve, effective angle and beam angle, total luminous flux, light efficiency, utilisation factor, current, voltage, power, and power factor, among other parameters. This data helps us provide optimum lighting solutions,” he explains indicating that this is not just the limit.
The company also conducts extensive checks including colour analysis sphere test, spectro radiometer integrating sphere test, IP chamber test, and other electrical and mechanical tests such as the vibration test, salt test and drop test. “Additionally, we also perform accelerated life ageing lines for ensuring high light output throughout the life of the product. Our quality management system ensures rigorous performance tests using various NABL-worthy testing equipment, and gives us the confidence to provide a two-year replacement guarantee across our portfolio. Each one of our products goes through an ageing test where they are subjected to extreme voltage, high temperature, frequent switching on and off before they are sealed, packed and dispatched to the market.”
Once all this are put in place, the company finds it apt to make a move with its Magik in the market where it has its strength. “We started our business focusing on our key strength region i.e. Eastern, which is sort of a neglected one by many of other entities irrespective of the category of the products. With around 100 channel partners already on board, we do have entered key markets of the country’s Western and Southern regions. Till date, we are present in Kolkata, Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, etc. Hopefully, by the end of this fiscal, we would be there in the Northern region as well,” he says.
Finally, highlighting the role of EESL in the ongoing country-wide LED drive, Kajaria suggests that EESL is acting as a catalyst of growth for the Indian LED lighting industry. “Had EESL not come in, people would have been selling these LED bulbs at exorbitant rates and volume could have been very low. As an industry, we would not have been known as much as we are today, and the consumers may not have tasted this wonderful technology. EESL has done a lot for the adoption of LEDs, and down to the lowest level to reach even to the interiors of a country as huge and diverse as India. It has actually helped a lot in bringing down the prices to an affordable level,” he signs off.
