LED bulbs light up EESL's prospects in the market

Company eyes Rs 2,500-crore turnover in 2016-17

In 2008, the then Director-General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency Ajay Mathur floated the idea of a new company to sell energy efficient electric equipment. The idea was readily accepted by the ministry of power and 2010 saw the birth of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL).  Saurabh Kumar, a former Income Tax officer, was put at its helm.

For six years EESL was an anonymous organisation and came out of the shadows with the NDA government’s much-talked-about LED distribution programme. The company had an equity base of Rs 90 crore in 2010-11. In 2015-16 it clocked a turnover of Rs 700 crore and made profits of Rs 50 crore.

“We will touch a turnover of Rs 2,500 crore during the current financial year and double our profits,” said Saurabh Kumar, managing director, EESL, in an interaction with Business Standard. EESL is based in Noida Sector 1, sharing an office with Inland Water Authority Limited. The two floors of EESL are lit with LED bulbs. EESL first came into limelight in July 2014 when it completed the Puducherry street lightning programme in four months. In November, it revamped the urban streets of Andhra Pradesh with LED lights just two months after a cyclone.

In January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the domestic efficient lighting programme along with Piyush Goyal, minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy. Since then, LED has made the headlines and EESL expanded its business across the country.

Having started with 10 employees, the company now has a staff of 450 and is looking to hire another 100 people. “The equity of the company is Rs 450 crore. We paid a 30 per cent dividend to our promoters. For the coming year we have raised debt of 300 million euro from German bank KfW. Recently, ADB approved a line of credit of $200 million and we received the same amount of credit from the World Bank,” said Kumar.

Total LED distribution touched the 100-million mark in April. The price has crashed 83 per cent in a year to Rs 75 per piece. The power ministry pegs savings in the power bill at Rs 14.5 crore per day.

EESL calls itself ‘Super Energy Service Company (SuperESCO) with no fixed assets. EESL now plans to handhold other ESCOs in some states and devise standards and verification for energy efficient equipments. Everyone you meet at EESL office is thankful to the NDA government and an endorsing minister like Goyal. The social media savvy minister is quick to share all the achievements of EESLreal time on different platforms and also flaunting the mobile app tracking LED distrbution.  

Shifting gears, in the next phase, agricultural pumps, centrally monitored street lightning programs and Building Management System (BMS) in on the cards for EESL. Under BMS, the company would make government buildings energy efficient. The office of NITI Ayog at Parliament Street has already been retrofitted by EESL and made a 5-Star energy efficient building.

“We will sign MoUs with Central Public Works Department as most government buildings are in their portfolio. We will work along with them to retrofit the buildings with energy efficient lighting and cooling systems. The exercise would start from 20 buildings in North and South block of the Central government,” said Kumar.

Currently, EESL is busy retrofitting the energy guzzling Shram Shakti Bhawan at Rafi Marg, Delhi to set a befitting example. The building among other ministries houses power ministry as well. Kumar adds with a smile, “It is 3-Star efficient building now and we will take it to 5-star.”