Mahindra Powerol to go pan-India by 2013

Mahindra Powerol, the power generator manufacturing division of Mahindra & Mahindra, is planning to complete its pan-India market expansion for its Home-UPS (HUPS) systems business by 2013.

The company, which forayed into the HUPS business in 2009 by launching a product in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, recently introduced its products in Karnataka and Kerala, as part of market expansion in South India. It would also set up shops in Bihar by the end of this month to mark its entry into the eastern part of the country, P Palaniappan, senior vice president, Mahindra Powerol.

As part of the market expansion, we are planning to expand the distributor network from 90 to 300 and selling points from 3,000 to 10,000 by fiscal 2013, he said after launching its third series of Home UPS, Intelli, in Tamil Nadu. It presently supplies two series of HUPS, Eco and Hi-Speed, in the state.

The company had sales of 50,000 units of Home UPS in the first year of operation and expects a double digit growth this year. It has a cumulative manufacturing capacity for 300,000 units of HUPS per annum through manufacturing plants in Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.

It aims to supply UPS systems in the range of 2.5 volt-ampere (VA) to 1,500 VA in the HUPS segment. The company boasts 20 features uncommon to other HUPS systems including a real-time battery back-up display and audio alarms for low battery and overload, in its newly-launched Intelli series.

The company, with its strength in supplying diesel generators for telecom tower operators in the country, is also planning to focus on supplying high kilovolt ampere (KvA) generators for small and medium industries and government offices. This would support the company’s growth at a time when the growth of telecom tower industry is reducing significantly, said Palaniappan.

While we continue to have the major market share in supplying generators to power telecom towers, there is a decrease in the number of new towers in the country in the recent past. We expect the other segments to overcome the issue, he said. He added that around 50 per cent of the 350,000 telecom towers in the country are powered by Powerol at present.

The company crossed the Rs 1000 crore turnover mark in 2009 owing to the growth in supply to the telecom sector. The growth in sales has become less in the last year and continues to be around Rs 1,000 crore at present. Its generator business to telecom sector was 20 per cent of the last year’s business, he added.