-Sandip Mukherjee, CEO - India, Landis+Gyr
Landis+Gyr ranks as the worldwide leader in electricity metering with a preeminent position in advanced Smart Metering systems, an essential component in global efforts to upgrade energy distribution systems and enable power distribution become more efficient and reliable. In this exclusive interaction with Electrical Monitor,
Sandip Mukherjee talks about how Landis+Gyr has grown in India and how it is gearing up to meet the imminent demand from the country’s Smart Grid ambitions. An interview by
Venugopal Pillai.
At the outset, tell us about how Landis+Gyr has grown in India over the years, especially since 2003 when India initiated widespread power sector reforms like APDRP, etc.
It is been a steady progress for Landis+Gyr in India over the past 3-4 years.Besides adding a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Baddi , we have also ramped up our Global R&D Centre at Noida which presently houses around 250 engineers. We have built-up our portfolio covering residential & industrial applications and are investing continuously to address the needs of Indian market in coming years.
Tell us in brief about your manufacturing facilities in West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh.
Indian business operations are supported by two manufacturing units, based in Joka, Kolkata (West Bengal) and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh).
Joka facility is huge with a surplus of land and building for future expansion. Currently, it can manufacture 150-170 K meters per month (K = thousand). Besides, it is strategically located in an industrial area of Kolkata that has easy access to the sea port and availability of skilled workforce.
The other manufacturing facility has been set-up at Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) which is located at the close proximity of R&D Centre at Noida. The plant has the flexibility to manufacture all types of meters with a capacity of 150 K per month.
Landis+Gyr was very recently awarded an order to supply 1.5 million single-phase energy meters to West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd. Tell us more on the order.
Yes, this is the fourth successive order awarded to us by WBSEDCL. Our commitment to quality, customer focused approach and prompt customer service has gone a long way in securing this major order.
To fulfill this order, we understand that you will be undertaking capacity expansion at your West Bengal manufacturing plant. Please give us some details.
We have already revamped our manufacturing capacity at Joka to meet the challenging requirement of WBSEDCL. We are manufacturing close to 7,000 meters per day at our Joka facility.
How has been the order offtake for energy meters in recent years given that village electrification is being aggressively pursued at both the Central and state government level?
As we all know that India is reasonably big meter market, and we believe that the basic drivers will continue to be there to drive consistent demand growth in coming years. However, we will prefer to selectively position ourselves to different geographies and segments depending on the market requirement, quality & price expectations and various other process requirements.
The humble energy meter, as we perceive, is the first and most important step in bringing about legitimacy in electricity consumption and checking commercial losses. Given that India still has alarmingly high commercial losses, how do you see the growth of Landis+Gyr in India?
I would like to decouple the question into two parts. As far as high AT&C losses are concerned, we believe companies like Landis+Gyr can help improve the situation by using its advanced technological solutions deployed and proven in many parts of the world and accordingly we are focusing on our new developments for India. Of course, it will depend on the preparedness and receptiveness of the market to embrace and implement the changes.
Our group management and Toshiba see India as a growth market in coming years and we are committed play an important role in Smart grid evolution in India.
India has taken initial steps in its Smart Grid endeavours. Given that a Smart Meter will be the heart of a Smart Grid, tell us about how you perceive the market in India?
Even at this stage of market maturity, today it will be difficult to comment on the definite timelines for Smart Grid evolution. However, we believe it is a continuous journey and involves active participation of all stakeholders with a long term vision. Our experience in other markets suggests that it may take somewhere 5-8 years in this transformational process of Smart Grid evolution.
We believe in India, it will happen for sure but in different stages and collaboration amongst different stake holders will be the most critical success factor.
How are you gearing up to meet the demand for Smart Meters?
We are keeping close eye on the market developments, engaging with key stake holders and aligning our R&D projects for smart meters so that we are ready when the market opportunities are present.
When do you think India will see the first commercial installation of Smart Meters?
As I mentioned, it takes time for commercial installation considering that there will be series of technology trials and pilots to understand and demonstrate the proof of concept. Also, the utilities need to be convinced on their ROI for smart meters. It will also depend on policy initiatives by the regulatory authorities.
Tell us about how the Smart Grid market is moving in other emerging nations. Please discuss in brief how Landis+Gyr are catering to the demand in these countries.
Smart grid activities are at different stages in different regions and countries. North America has already made substantial investment in past several years and we had played a major role there. Some countries in Europe have already implemented smart metering and some countries like Germany, France and Spain are going to follow the suite soon, which will provide a big opportunity for Landis+Gyr.
We are also actively involved in smart metering projects in Victoria, Australia. However, I think the biggest opportunity will be in Japan, which has a potential to replace 78 million meters with smart meters. We are actively perusing the opportunity along with Toshiba.
How do you see the growth of Landis+Gyr in India over the next (say) 5-7 years? What would be your key growth planks?
In next 5-7 years, we would like to achieve steady and profitable growth and more importantly to become most respected metering solution provider in India. We believe some of the developments which we will do for Indian market will also address needs of South-East Asian markets. Also India can potentially become manufacturing hub for our other group entities. We have huge support of Toshiba to figure out opportunities for cross selling and developing businesses which will complement their vision of smart community. In a nutshell, we see tremendous growth opportunity in the business for next 5-7 yrs in India.