—Palaniappan P, Sr. Vice President, Mahindra Powerol, Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Around ten years ago,
Mahindra & Mahindra, through a new division called
Mahindra Powerol ventured into DG sets. It subsequently extended its product range to cover UPS and inverters.
Palaniappan P, in this exclusive exchange, tracks the phenomenal growth of
over the past decade and gives keen insights on the company’s future plans of turning into a complete off-grid power solutions provider. An interview by
Venugopal Pillai.
Tell us in brief about Mahindra Powerol – the early years and how it has grown since its inception in 2002.
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, the tractor and utility vehicle major in India, entered the field of Power Generation in 2001-02. Starting FY 2002, the business has grown exponentially to become a Rs.1000-crore business in FY 2009-10. Today, engines from Mahindra Powerol are powering diesel generating (DG) sets from 2.5kVA to 500 kVA.
Mahindra Powerol is a division of Farm Equipment Sector of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Mahindra Powerol started offering diesel engines for various engine applications and found that there is a huge potential in the DG set industry. It then went on to start assembling its own DG sets and became a significant player in DG set industry.
Extending the product range for the power back-up industry, Mahindra Powerol also started selling home inverters – known as Home UPS (HUPS). Mahindra Powerol has also started offering energy and site maintenance solutions to telecom towers in India.
Today, Mahindra Powerol is one of the top 3 players in the DG set industry in India; with a leadership in telecom segment, enjoying more than 50 per cent market share.
Apart from telecom, which are your other important client industries?
Besides telecom, Mahindra Powerol DG sets are powering customers from a diverse cross-section of industries and segments like banks, building & construction, public sector units, hospitals, hotels, homes and manufacturing units not only in India but also in global markets.
Do you offer temporary power solutions as an independent service? For instance, supply temporary power to events, projects under construction, etc.
No, we do not offer it directly. It’s possible only through our 160+ dealer network.
Tell us more on the bio-diesel generators recently launched.
We have launched the product and it is now in testing stage. In case of any requirement by our telecom customers we will consider using it for commercial purpose.
When did Mahindra Powerol enter the home UPS/inverter market and how has been the going so far?
Mahindra Powerol has launched inverters and home UPS business in February 2010 and is now available in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Bihar. The inverters are available from 250VA to 5kVA.
Currently, there are four series available in market; Eco, Eco-plus, Hi-Speed & Intelli. The Intelli series is the most advanced series available in the market today with a feature like real time battery back-up display, which is a first timer in the field of Home-UPS in India. These inverters are manufactured in two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in India.
Mahindra Powerol inverters and HUPS are the most intelligent inverters available in the market with features like Intelli-charge which comprises of intelligent charging algorithm, holiday-mode to save power and also wiring check feature. Along with these inverters consists of key features like microcontroller-based design, selectable battery charging option and audio alarms mains failure / low battery / overload, to name a few.
Today Powerol already has over 110 distributors and over 4,000 selling points through dealers’ network. Mahindra Powerol is also equipped with its own service centers to provide world class service to its customers.
We understand that tier-II and tier-III cities can be big markets for the home UPS/inverter industry. What is your view?
We agree with this! In fact we are already enjoying good contribution from tier II and tier III cities in the states where we are in operation.
With grid power still lacking “quality” e.g. transients, voltage fluctuations, etc, we understand that UPS and inverters are also used as power conditioning equipment more than just power backup. What is your opinion? Does this broaden the potential market?
UPS definitely plays important role in power conditioning and we agree that same will play important role in market expansion. We are into inverter and HUPS which does not serve as power conditioning equipment.
India, we perceive, is not fully self-reliant in terms of power electronics that go into inverters and UPS systems. What is your take on the matter?
As far technology is concern, India has progressed well but due to cost and nature of price sensitive market, import content is very high.
We also observe that a host of marginal players dominate the low-rating (home) UPS and inverter segment. Do you think this has a bearing on quality and reliability of products?
The industry is dominated by marginal players and it definitely has a bearing on quality and reliability of the products. That’s where Powerol offers value. We have not only offered high tech/high featured product but have invested a lot on service quality.
Tell us broadly about how Mahindra Powerol has improved on its products in terms of environmental impact and energy efficiency.
Powerol has proactively taken steps to reduce the environmental impact of our DG sets. For example, for the telecom market, we have developed variable speed DG sets which offers savings in fuel consumption when DG s are running at part loads (say 25 per cent or 50 per cent of the rate load- which is a common occurrence). These DGs have been well received by our telecom customers and we hope to sell them in more numbers.
The DG industry would be subjected to stricter emission norms – Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) –II. We are working on making our engines CPCB-II compliant.
The telecom tower industry is under pressure to reduce its operating cost and environmental impact. Powerol is working with various telecom companies to offer hybrid power back-up solutions which could be in form of DG-battery; DG-solar; bio-gas gensets and so on. We will start working on pilot sites soon and expect this energy solutions business to grow in the future.
Please summarize your key plans with respect to the gensets and home UPS/inverters.
We want to expand our DG product range and would also like to enter the projects business. With the projects business, we would like to address the range from 5 – 3000 kVA. In HUPS we would be covering all India in next two years as against seven states today.
Our vision is become complete solution provider in off-grid power applications. We rely on innovation and customer centricity.