The name Exide is almost synonymous with storage batteries in India. The company's predecessor began its operations in 1916 as an import house called Chloride Electrical Storage Company. Since then, over the years, the company has been steadily progressing by taking necessary initiatives to modernise its manufacturing processes and by constantly improving its customer services. Mr Subir Chakraborty, Executive Vice President, Exide Industries Ltd (All India Industrial Sales & Marketing), in conversation with Industrial Products Finder for the Special Section on Batteries & UPS Systems.

Exide Industries not only pioneered the Lead Acid Battery market in India but has also maintained the market leadership for over 60 years. What is the secret of this success? Our product quality gives us the strength to stand tall in the Indian market. A battery is like a cornerstone of the power backup system. The strength and effectiveness of a backup system depends largely on the quality of the battery. For more than 60 years our products have been known for their reliability and quality. It is this quality assurance that makes our customers opt for our products. Moreover, with a wide range of products we are capable to customise our solutions to suit specific customers' requirements.

Starting even before Independence, Exide now has a long history in the storage power industry. What are the significant achievements in the company's history?

Exide's undisputed leadership of the country's lead acid battery business over such a long period is in itself a major achievement.

We are proud that we are amongst a handful of businesses in India to have held their own against all competition - domestic or foreign. In fact, it is not that foreign majors did not try to enter India. But we at Exide have consistently invested in quality and focused on customer satisfaction to stave off challenges to our market leadership.

What are the products that you offer?

With batteries ranging from 2.5 AH to 20400AH we have the widest range of lead acid storage batteries.

Our industrial product range encompasses Flat pasted batteries, Tubular batteries, Plante batteries and sealed maintenance free VRLA batteries. For example in the institutional UPS segment we have EL and EL+ with Flooded Tubular plates, UPS and ELF with Flooded Flat plates and Power-safe EP and NXT in the VRLA range.

All batteries finally provide backup power, then why do we need such a wide range of products? The choice of a battery depends on many factors like power backup requirement, duration and frequency of power cuts, environment conditions and cost. All these factors vary widely across the end users in India, which make the power backup requirement of each customer very specific. Only Exide has the complete range of products, to suit the individual need of each and every customer.

What are the segments catered to by Exide in Industrial sector?

We have batteries for almost every power backup and traction application. We cater to sectors like institutional UPS, home UPS, power, project, telecommunication, industrial logistics, defence, solar and railways.

In today's competitive market, how important is after sales service?

The relationship with the customer should not end with sale of the product; it is the responsibility of the company to ensure that the end user gets a delightful experience with the product throughout its life.

We at Exide, consider after sales service to be an integral part of the product and not just an add-on. For us no product is complete if it is not backed by an efficient and responsive after sales service.

To ensure this we have well distributed service wings with 67 service centres, 30 power centres, Battery Care Vans and fully dedicated 24x7 Call Centre.

For engineering innovations - what is the focus on R&D?

The Exide R&D Centre at Kolkata is one of the oldest of its kind. This was the first R&D centre set up outside UK by Chloride Group plc, the erstwhile owners of Exide. With two Japanese technical collaborators, Shin Kobe and Furukawa, technological innovation is a part of life at Exide.

We use technology for providing our customers better products and services. Our entire R&D effort is geared towards that goal.

In a competitive market like institutional UPS, what are the innovations by Exide? Also any breakthrough product that stands out?

With our R&D facilities and with help of our technical collaborations, we have been able to launch in the Indian market many breakthrough products.

Our Flooded Tubular battery is one of its kind in the Indian market and has proven itself even in severe power shortage areas.

In the VRLA range, for UPS application, the recently launched Powersafe NXT is a breakthrough product, which has the unique capability of withstanding cyclic operation of deep discharge coupled with fast recharge facility.

Business scenario has changed a lot in the last few years. How is the present business environment for Institutional UPS market?

The business environment is favourable for us, and some of the reasons are:

• For both industry and households, uninterrupted power supply is becoming more and more important
• Business firms in an effort to tap the bottom of the pyramid are trying to reach out to those parts of the country where the infrastructure in terms of power is not adequate, and
• Changing lifestyle of people is opening up new markets for us.

All these factors are keeping the market for the batteries on a growth trajectory. There is no denying the fact that with entry of new players, competition has increased, but we believe healthy competition is good as it continuously pushes one to a higher efficiency level.

(Exide Industries Ltd, Kolkata. Tel: 033-22866158/59. Email: indlcare@exide.co.in)