Opple starts operations in India with first experience store in Chennai

First organised lighting company from China to enter India

The $600 million Chinese lighting company Opple Lighting has begun its operations in India by opening an exclusive retail store in Chennai in tie-up with a distributor.

The company has set a target of achieving Rs 450 crore revenue in the next five years, besides appointing 30 distributors in the country by 2015-end. It also has plans to set up an assembling facility in the country.

Opple Lighting India country head Naveen Saxena said Opple is the first lighting company from China to enter the Indian market. He said the the company’s LED product range was being priced at 15-20 per cent less in the domestic market.

“We see a huge opportunity in India and our immediate focus will be the top 30 cities,” said Saxena, and added, the company had set a target to establish 5,000 points of sale by 2015-end. Globally, Opple operates through the distribution-and-stockist model.

Shanghai-headquartered Opple Lighting has operations in more than 50 countries globally.

While initially, the products would be imported from China, the company said, it would look at setting up an assembling facility in the next 3-5 years.

Indian lighting industry has been growing at around 17-18 per cent over the last 2-3 years, and is projected to clock Rs 8,000-12,000 crore turnover in the next five years.

Around 70 per cent of this would be LED-based, the company quoting Electric Lamp and Component Manufacturers Association of India (Elcoma) and McKinsey’s projections, said.

According to Elcoma, the LED segment in the country is expected to grow at an annual 41.5 per cent in 2015, and is among the fastest growing segments, it stated.