The company is targeting revenue of Rs. 300 crore from its LED business in the next two years.
Servotech Power Systems Pvt. Ltd., started in the year 2004 by Raman Bhatia and Sarika Bhatia with supports from family and friends, made its own niche in the power back-up industry manufacturing inverters, servos, and online & offline UPS. The ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001 certified company is fully equipped to ensure its ability to supply best quality products consistently. Over the last few years, the company has grown exponentially adding strength to its infrastructure, while its products have changed the concept of power electronics once and for all.
Later, with an aim to support the eco system, Servotech diversified to manufacturing LED lights under the brand name ‘Saara’ and solar-based lighting. After a few years, the company with its dedicated R&D team was able to revolutionise the market with high-quality LED lighting products at affordable prices. The company is soon going to be listed in NSE, and is coming up with IPO to fulfil its working capital requirements.
We, at LED World, caught up with Sarika Bhatia, Director-Marketing, Servotech Power Systems Pvt. Ltd. to know what are the driving forces for Servotech and how the company is materialising the opportunities coming its way. To which, she started that the country’s lighting industry is entering in to an exciting phase wherein the marketplace is going to get flooded with new products and innovative technologies at a rather rapid pace. “At this juncture, the diversification is inevitable but each player has to be cautious in its approach keeping in view the emerging scenario when it comes to decide on its future proposition and scope for the chosen product or technology.”
According to Bhatia, the company is currently focusing on infrastructure, government & petroleum projects. “We have recently executed quite a few government projects under SLNP wherein we have done street lighting for Alwar, Bhopal, Hubli, Belgaum, Patna, etc. All these projects are important and are of high visibility. Besides, we have also got our products installed in various government buildings in Delhi like IP Bhavan, Nirman Bhawan, UPSC Building, Yojana Bhawan, Sardar Patel Bhawan, West Block, North Block, etc. Apart from these, we do have many projects with petroleum industry,” she said adding that the versatility has made us stride for innovation.
She further suggested that acquiring and executing projects of the given scale all are not at all easy, and involved a long process of certifications and quality check-ups. “We have to deal with people from government, corporate and PSUs. Also, today’s buyers especially the educated ones are looking for products beyond the ordinary and with exclusive attributes. They have their own specific requirements of lighting, and hence, accordingly demand changes & tweaking of products. This led us to give great credence to innovation. Today, we have a strong R&D team in place at Kundli in Haryana, which facilitated us produce more than 60% of LED products’ components in India.”
Amidst all this, Bhatia seemed very-much concerned about the awareness about LED lighting. “A huge base of our target customers is still unaware about the benefits of LEDs. Adding to it are factors like presence of Chinese products and lack of technical guidelines to standardise the norms. Other than that the receivables in government projects are too late, which actually hampers SME manufacturers like us. Further, government subsidies are causing huge issues. For instance, with lower costing there are often razor thin margins, which are not enough to put back in to organic growth of the organisations. However, the silver lining is that the government is boosting the LED business with lots of incentivised schemes,” she explained.
Bhatia expressed her anticipation to the government at the centre by simply mentioning that the efforts & encouragement from Ministry of Power and EESL, for street lighting through LED fixtures, is in the right direction. “Besides, PM’s initiative for LED bulb distribution under domestic efficient lighting is nothing, but another vital opportunity for the domestic manufacturers to make the most of it. The centre has also called for setting district level goals, and to prioritise this scheme in all towns with population above 1,00,000,” she stated adding that for all this and many more, spreading awareness so that ordinary people can be more responsive to LED technology. “At Servotech, our mantra remains ‘Produce Green To Live Green’ and our prime focus is to educate and promote only sustainable energy efficiency and drive the LED segment forward.”
On the competition side, Bhatia asserted that to combat competition at all levels, the company makes sure to provide all its customers full value for their money. “Our products have best technology at the most competitive prices. Headquartered at Delhi, We do have a full-fledge customer support centre with PAN India base.”
“We are interested in technology for the masses. Good tech design should not just be for enthusiasts but for the public at large. It should be something touches everyone’s life. And to realise this dream, it is most vital that we invest heavily in R&D to find innovative ways in manufacturing to succeed in our ‘Make In India’ campaign in its true sense. This is despite the fact that our manufacturing has been both cost as well as resource-effective besides being environmentally sustainable,” Bhatia averred suggesting that to attain this, the only solution is active collaboration and partnerships of industry in higher education and R&D projects with governments, universities, institutes, global community colleges, and other service providers.
On future endeavour, she indicated that there are a few plans in the pipeline like setting up a world-class plant for the manufacturing of Solar PV modules from 5W to 300W. This is apart from setting up a facility and a tool room with latest equipment for pressure die casting and injection moulding facilities for the backward bending. Also on the card is a joint-venture technical collaboration with an international company in the arena of highly efficient solar inverters up to 500kVA.
