In this interview, Anil Saboo, Chairman, ELECRAMA 2020, highlights on emerging trends in the electrical and electronic industry and new growth opportunities for the industry.

Delhi, January 15, 2020

The government is planning to spend Rs 102 lack crore on infrastructure development. This, along with the expected regulatory reforms in power sector, is likely to push the demand for electrical electroncs equipment in the near future. Anil Saboo, Chairman, ELECRAMA 2020, believes that India has a golden opportunity to shape its energy mix. In this interview, Anil Saboo highlights the main attractions at this year's ELECRAMA and general trendssss in the industry.

What will be the highlights of ELECRAMA 2020?

ELECRAMA 2020 has major concurrent events like World Utility Summit, ETechnxt, RBSM, DBSM, and Buildelec, etc along with pavilions like Rail Urja, RE, NSIC and Women in Power where exhibitors from more than 60 countries and visitors from more than 120 countries will join. ELECRAMA 2020 will provide more noticeable growth, increased exports in addition to adoption of new technology for connecting our MSME units to Global Value Chains.

In this addition , For first time we will be focusing on the entire energy spectrum along with Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, Automation, Digitalization, Industry4.0, IOT, AI and Electric Transportation opportunities to expose the electrical industry to new technology innovations and disruptions with information to manage the transformation.

This year we shall also focus on Women Empowerment in electrical sector. As per study, in all developed countries women contribute more than 50 per cent of overall work force. And in last 20 year, it is analysed that in India majority of the women are involved in IT sector only. In order to increase role of women in energy & power sectors, we will provide a platform for them to discuss and share their experiences and learn from each other's.

How do you view the current status of electrical and electronics industry in India?

While Indian electrical and electronics equipment industry foresee growth, one of the major deterrents in realising the same could be imports. Though total imports increased significantly from Rs 55,608 crores in 2017-18 to Rs 71,570 crores in 2018-19, the rise in imports can be majorly attributed to ‘Project Imports’ which constitute about 11 per cent of total imports in 2018- 19. On the strength of Rs 102 lack crore being proposed to be spent on infrastructure and the planned reforms in power segment by the Government for 2020 to 2025, we expect to witness robust growth in coming years.

India, now, has a golden opportunity to shape its energy mix. Social and economic growth are at the top of the government’s agenda, and new energy sources to serve this demand are increasingly coming from renewable energy. A number of factors have contributed to this. The government policy has been supportive, and more recently, a wider set of actions - incentives, infrastructure and investment promotions were taken up. Technology development, larger-scale projects and the learning effect has allowed the use of efficient designs and have pushed down costs. This makes renewable energy attractive to power utilities that are contracting new long-term capacity, and in addition, this avoids them the burden of take-or-pay contracts and fuel risk.

An investor with a given capital can fund more projects across regions or asset-classes to diversify resource-based risks. The lower cost structure also means that an investor who is early or better prepared gains from better returns. At this stage, many challenges remain which are still being worked upon, viz grid integration, curtailment, counterparty risk, cost of finance, imbalance costs, etc. Market creation has not been easy but regulators are acting on this with tighter compliance standards.

Industries are witnessing disruptive technologies like Smart Factories, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Advanced Robotics, etc. How is Indian electrical & electronics (E&E) industry responding to these disruptions?

In future, power generation and distribution firms will be forced to embrace this transition by shareholders and customers, and even by employees in the war for talented digital-native college graduates. But either way, there will clearly be a new digital platform on which power generation and other companies will be compelled to operate their businesses. There are many names for this new landscape - Industry 4.0, IIoT, Smart Manufacturing, Digital Factory, and others - but the common thread is digital, the main factor driving the valuation point of the top companies.

On the eve of ELECRAMA 2020, would you like to give any message to exhibitors, visitors and the industry (in general)?

The Indian energy sector is a sunrise sector across the entire developing world, and there exists a significant export potential for Indian companies.

To increase the export of electrical equipment and boost the Indian economy I suggest our exhibitors, visitors, and all other industrialists to adopt three things; cluster approach, adopt new technology & trends and engage 50 per cent of women at the workplace. 

We have to focus on “Create in India” and “Design in India” also as we are good in start-up & innovation. We should invest in R&D and can utilise each other’s strength for a common goal & upgrade ourselves to global standards. ELECRAMA 2020 is such a platform to adopt & explore all above.