Fusegear sketches growth plan

Indo-Asian Fusegear Ltd, a mid-sized manufacturer of electrical equipment, has chalked out an expansion plan of Rs 15 crore for enhancing its compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) manufacturing capacity to 40 million CFLs a year from 15 million at present.

Indo-Asian, which manufacturers the Ecolite brand of CFL lamps, will invest this amount for the upgrade of its plants at Noida and Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh). The plants are expected to be ready by the end of June.

With global laws coming into force against the use of mercury in lightning equipments, which is considered a health hazard, Indo-Asian has made significant investments for producing mercury free CFLs with its unique "Pill Dosing System". The plant has installed complete production line imported from Korea.

"This will make us the only company in the country manufacturing mercury free CFLs," said the company's chairman and managing director Ved Prakash Mahendru, adding, "We will become the largest manufacturer of CFL with a market share of 40-45 per cent after the expansion."

According to industry estimates, the CFL market size in the country is around Rs 2,000 crore a year (around 200 million lamps), and is currently experiencing a 25-30 per cent growth.

Indo Asian, which is one of the four organised CFL manufacturers in the country, currently has a 30 per cent share of the market. Other companies with significant operations in the CFL segment include Osram, Phoenix and Havells.

"A large chunk of the market is still dominated by small and unorganised players," Mahendru said.

The company, which is also an exports its products abroad, is also hopeful of an increase in exports of CFLs, partcularly to the UK and to some other countries in Europe, where the law is stringent about using mercury free lamps.

Meanwhile, the company has got a go-ahead from the Punjab & Haryana High Court for merging a group company Indo Kopp, which is into manufacturing of miniature circuit breakers (MCB), into it. The merger proposal was also aimed at strengthening the group's export initiatives in Europe, a company release said.

Indo Asian is also a leading manufacturer of switchgear equipment and has six manufacturing units- two each in Noida and Parwanoo and one each in Jalandhar and Sonepat.