— Palash Nandy,
Vice President - Marketing, Legrand India
Legrand is the global specialist in products and systems for electric
installations and information networks where people live and work.
It holds a nearly 20 per cent world market share for wiring devices.
In an exclusive interaction with Electrical Monitor,
Palash Nandy
speaks on Legrand's recent developments in India like the
acquisition of Indo Asian Fusegear's low voltage breaker business
last year and also on Legrand's newly launched Myrius range of
wiring devices. Nandy emphasizes that Legrand's clear objective is
to grow faster than the market.
It has been around a year since Legrand announced the
acquisition of Indo Asian Fusegear's low voltage breaker
business. Please summarize how this first year has been.
The year has been good. As was had then stated the Indo Asian
brand would continue to exist as a separate brand. The same
has been successfully implemented. The Indo Asian brand
exists as a strong independent brand. Indo Asian is now back to
a robust growth trajectory. The Indo Asian team has done a very
good job to bring back the organisation to growth phase.
As we understand, one of the strategic motives of the IAFL
acquisition was to gain entry in the government and
infrastructure projects. What has been the first year
achievement and how do you see matters progressing in time?
It was not the only strategic reason. As indicated in the earlier
question, Indo Asian is back to the growth phase in all
segments that it operates in, including the government and
infrastructure segments.
Legrand has its own brand of protection devices like mini circuit
breakers, residual current detectors, etc. How do you maintain
the balance between "Indo Asian" and "Legrand".
Legrand and Indo Asian brands operate on separate segments.
While Legrand operates in the top-end premium segment, Indo
Asian operates in the segment below the premium segment.
Therefore, there is no conflict of market segments. The two
brands are complimentary to each other and therefore there is
no issue at all in managing the two brands. We intend to grow
the two brands aggressively in their respective segments.
Tell us more on the Myrius range of wiring devices recently
launched by Legrand. What is the target segment for Myrius?
Myrius is a new range of modular wiring devices that has been
launched by Legrand in June this year. It has been positioned in
between Mosaic and Mylinc. Therefore, now we are able to have
a product in all the modular segments starting with Mylinc and
then Myrius, Mosaic, Arteor and Axolute. This has helped us to
become the No. 2 brand of wiring devices in India. The Myrius
range is an interesting range of wiring devices with many smart
functions like dimmers for CFLs, motor starters, pre-wired power strips, TV/Sat/FM socket, VSP, RCBO, remote control
switches etc apart from the normal products like switches,
sockets, fan regulators etc. The entire range is available in two
colours—white and matte black. Aesthetically the range is
extremely sleek, flat and has a very smooth finish. Of course the
range has all the features that are common to all the Legrand
wiring devices -stripping template, captive screws, LED
indicators, IP 20 terminals, double shrouded internal
mechanisms to prevent sparks to come out etc and of course
the range has the necessary ISI certification. The response has
been extremely good and we are extremely bullish about Myrius
for the future.
Legrand has been very regularly launching new ranges of wiring
devices—Myrius, Arteor, Mylinc, Axolute apart from your
benchmark "Mosaic" brand. Tell us more on this philosophy.
We have a simple philosophy— Listen, Design, Make and
Support. This philosophy is
extremely effective in ensuring
that we are able to launch
products which are in line with
the expectations of customers in
different segments. Legrand is
the worldwide leader in wiring
devices with a 20 per cent market
share. Obviously this is a result of
the expertise and ability of the
group to bring out products that
suit the local application needs of
customers across 180 countries.
This expertise has enabled us
have an extremely fast growth in
wiring devices in India and have
now become the No. 2 brand in
India. Legrand is the only
brand in India today with a
product offer across all the
different modular wiring devices
segment—Mylinc, Myrius, Mosaic, Arteor and Axolute.
As a consequence we are able to cover all the segments
from mid-modular to luxury.
How do you gauge the recent trends in the real estate
market? How do you see prospects for Legrand
switchgear and wiring devices from new residential
properties pan-India?
The residential market will continue to grow in the
coming five years. There would be some hiccups from time to
time due to the rising prices and/or the rising interest rates.
As a consequence, there may be some price rationalization
at some intervals. However, fundamentally the demand will
continue to be more than the supply. The growth would also be
seen in the tier-2 and tier-3 towns. The consumer is also
getting more informative and therefore demands more. As a
consequence the builders will have to increasingly
differentiate their products to be in sync with the consumer
needs. Legrand is very well placed to take advantage of this
phenomenon. We have a wide range of products to cater to
the needs of all segments—from eco housing to luxury villas
and apartments.
Please share in brief Legrand's growth plans in the switchgear
business, including those relating to Indo Asian's acquired
business.
Our objective is clear—we want to grow substantially more
than the market growth. We have been doing this for the past
few years and will continue to do so going ahead. Legrand and
Indo Asian would continue to exist as two separate and
strong brands catering to different market segments. We
have ambitious growth plans for both the brands. This would
enable us to maintain our leadership position in MCBs, RCDs &
DBs, consolidate our No. 2 position in wiring devices and we
intend to emerge as a very strong challenger in the power,
home automation and cable management, and structured
cabling business.