Let there be light

Mammoth infrastructure projects and a forthcoming conference draw attention to India's fledgling lighting industry.

The defence ministry is on a huge spending binge, with Rs 20,000 crore earmarked for an accommodation project for married defence staff, Rs 2,500 for Project Sea Bird (a naval port at Karwar), and another Rs 500 crore allocated for a Naval Academy near Kochi.

But those smiling the most are members of the lighting industry, who hope to get their due share of anywhere between 2-5 per cent of the total expenditure on these projects.

If that's substantial pickings, it's also just the tip of the iceberg. IT parks are mushrooming as mammoth projects all over the country. Mega hotel, convention and resort projects, multiplexes, malls and entertainment parks are underway.

The airports are on a modernisation drive. Even the railways are moving ahead with an ambitious upgradation plan.

"Chandigarh, Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Jaipur are only a few examples of where government and private spending is extremely liberal, and the total amounts will run into thousands of crores of rupees," says H S Mamak, president emeritus of the Indian Society of Lighting Engineers (ISLE).

"We cannot imagine such developments without the efficient contribution of the total lighting package."

If Mamak has reasons to rejoice, customers couldn't be more spolit for choice. From cheap Chinese imports to expensive Italian lights, the markets are flooded with a variety of lighting fixtures.

Estimated to be worth $200 million, they make up a sizeable amount of the Rs 3,000 crore lighting industry, at least 40 per cent of which is estimated to be in the unorganised sector.

But, say analysts, this is likely to be an extremely moderate estimate, since spurious products and unbranded, cottage industry rip-offs of the majors in the business, rule, particularly in an environment where even builders/contractors work in the unorganised sector.

But all that is likely to change. Not least of which is going to be a requirement for lighting engineers and other professionals in the business.

"We should grow to at least Rs 5,000 crore in five years," says Mamak, who's smiling a lot these days, even though he's caught up with the preparations for the fifth Light India International (LII) exhibition and conference, scheduled in Delhi from September 9-14.

For starters, for the first time at this three-yearly event, instead of simultaneous workshops, six masterclass speakers have been invited to address select audiences, for which most seats have rapidly filled up.

SOUND AND LIGHT

The following international speakers will bring their specialisation at the LII2005 conference in New Delhi next month

Gert Hof: Referred to as a pyroartist, this lighting architect has a CV that includes lighting the Acropolis in Greece, light displays at Red Square in Moscow, dedication to the millennium monument in Beijing, the Berlin millennium celebrations and the 1000th anniversary of Budapest. Now imagine how he'd light up Rashtrapati Bhawan!

Howard Brandston: Four decades of experience in illuminating over 2,500 commercial, institutional, residential and government projects including the Statue of Liberty, the Petronas Twin Towers, retail projects and malls. His arrival in India is at an opportune time, but are mall developers listening?

Kaoru Mende: A teacher of lighting design, he's worked on the Tokyo Design Centre, Frankfurt Opera House and other prestigious projects. Brings an unusual Asian sensibility on his India tour.

Dave Irvine Halliday: A key member of the Light Up The World project aimed at introducing safe, efficient and affordable home lighting for poor rural populations, he's keen that every home in India should have at least one light source so children may study and make their futures.

George C Brainard: Working in the field of the effects of light on biological and behavioural responses of animals and humans, as well as applications for NASA, his work is destined to change the way we live and work.

Behr Champana: A futuristic planner, his design concepts for mega-projects in Dubai and the Middle East are phenomenal. Time India did some crystal gazing too!

It's easy to see why interest and investments are pouring into India's rapidly developing economy, but for most part international players will continue to import rather than manufacture products in India.

This is particularly true of the components segment which, explains Mamak, "is technology driven and capital intensive". Since India is unlikely to be competitive, he recommends that the country should consider "niche requirements of specialised components in small series. This market itself could be in the region of about $100 million per year."

Certainly, though, multinationals are exploring the possibility of using India as a base for their manufacture of luminaires, accessories, GLS and fluorescent lamps." What about high-end lights? "It would be impossible to reproduce them here," says one importer of Italian lights, "they're too technology sensitive, and India just doesn't have the volumes of Europe or the US."

While it's likely that the growing interest in lighting could drive funds into the organised sector, so the unorganised players will be forced to retreat, the buzz at the forthcoming conference and in the next years, however, is likely to be in the LED segment (where it had been in the CFL category over the last decade).

"LEDs are the future not only for India but for all developing countries," says Mamak. "It will revolutionise rural lighting and holds definite promise of affordable light for our unelectrified villages."

For now, LEDs are still expensive, but with prices plummeting and lumen output increasing, it promises phenomenal energy saving along with flexibility of usage.

It is hoped that LEDs could also capitalise on India's solar energy resource. It is this that Dr Dave Irvine Halliday will speak on during the session allocated to him during the LII conference.

Interest in the conference is coming from predictable stables such as the CPWD and state public works departments, from architects, and also some unexpected sources such as the Indian Railways.

The railways (and the Metro) are looking at solutions for lighting up platforms as well as coach interiors (to avoid the awkward flicker of the reading lamp above each berth, for instance), but even so the organisers are hoping to tap decision makers.

In Delhi, for instance, meetings for lighting architect Gert Hof are being organised with Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as well as those heading the Commonwealth and Olympics games committees.

Hopefully, this will result not only in lighting solutions for the city (as well as other cities/installations around the country), but also in display lighting for our numerous monuments. Perhaps we're ready to enter the light age after all.