JOIN USPhilips Lighting India Vice Chairman and Managing Director Harshavardhan Chitale called upon the government for strict enforcement of mandatory Indian standards in lighting hardware and solutions, especially LED bulbs.
In an interaction with DH, Chitale said organised players are investing heavily to comply with government regulations in the lighting industry. “Government has made it mandatory all products from the lighting industry should comply with Bureau of India Standard (BIS) and RoHS standards. But we do not have any authority for its stricter compliance,” he said.
The government wanted all the LED manufacturers to comply with RoHS Compliance and BIS. RoHS Compliance is an international directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.
According to industry analysts, India’s lighting business worth Rs 15,000 crore a year, is going through technological transformation backed by growth of smart cities and IoT. “We are finding cheap Chinese products available in the grey market and it is giving competition to players who are complying with government regulation,” he said.
Chitale also pointed out that besides safety hazard these substandard products are not designed for Indian voltage conditions, Indian environment conditions and they will create the spark, blow up and melt as they are using substandard materials.
LED bulb comprise one of the leading product portfolios for Philips Lighting and it is leading player in the B2C and B2B segment. “B2B segment we are the market leader and in the B2C our share is closer to 30%,” he said.
Philips has made India its global research and development hub for solar lighting. “We started out R&D and product development last year and developed three products in this segment,” said.
The three product segments are home lighting system, community lighting system and solar lantern. “We have given lighting system to 1,000 villages in the country and sold 1.50,000 units till now. One lakh houses are now using solar solution in India,” he said.
“We are focusing more on solar products as they will help us in energy saving. Besides planning more products in this year, we have made it clear that solar products will be exported from India,” said Chitale.
DH News Service