Out of the shade

When cheap Chinese imports are hitting the Rs 1,000-crore domestic lighting industry, Deepak Kapoor, managing director of the Rs 75-crore Kapoor Lamp Shades, has a three-point agenda to keep his company ahead of low-priced imitators.

Expand shop floor, step-up exports and retail its products in foreign markets. This year alone, the company plans to open three overseas franchisee outlets in Colombo, Bahrain and Johannesburg.

"Most capital cities in the world attract tourists, and, besides garments and other shopping, people tend to shop for lamps as well. That's why we've decided to open shops abroad," informs Kapoor. The company opened its store in Kuwait last year.

But there's a larger business strategy behind Kapoor's international foray. He is not only opening up showrooms, but also bidding for lighting contracts for major hotels.

He recently bagged hotel lighting projects worth Rs 10 crore: a seven-star Grand Imperial hotel and two other hotel projects in Kampala, one 300-room hotel in Kenya and a five-star hotel that is expected to come up in Kabul this year. Back in India, Kapoor Lamps claims to have captured a major chunk of the lighting business at big hotels.

Kapoor, who owns 18 company-owned stores in India, thinks the future of Indian lighting industry lies in exploiting the export market. Or at least that is what he is going to focus on.

"Our thrust will be on the export market: currently, we export 20,000 units of lights and light components. But in the next five years, we are targeting one million units," states Kapoor.

Currently, the company exports lights and lamp shades to the US, Europe, Australia and China. "The demand for lights from these countries has further shot up owing to better quality and pricing offered here than in China," he says.

Interestingly, the company has also taken the battle to the enemy camp by exploring export opportunities in China. It has already started exporting light components such as bulb holders and other semi-automatic parts to China.

According to Kapoor, trends in the lighting industry are quite whimsical. "They change from season to season, except for the premium chandelier brands which always remain classic," he adds.

The company is the sole distributor for Czech company Preciosa Lustry for the entire SAARC region. Priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 19 lakh, the diamond crystal chandeliers from Bohemia have a huge demand in India.

Kapoor's target customer for the crystal chandeliers is every Mercedes owner in the country who needs to do up his home. "We've already sold goods worth $1 million," he says.

Among other tie-ups that Kapoor Lamps has, is with the Italy-based Mariner and the Spanish company Led C-4. It entails distribution of their products in India. It has also tied up with Danish company Indo Dan to make export-quality lampshades.

Recently,the company has bagged several corporate lighting projects, such as Ericsson and GE Capital.