Soap brand Santoor brightens Wipro's Rs 8.6 billion lighting business

Over 25 years ago, when Wipro entered the lighting segment, the business struggled to grow in the first four years. However, after the initial hiccups, lighting has not only emerged as one of major revenue generators for the company, it is raring to grow at a faster speed refreshing the basket with smart lighting products, getting into outdoor lighting segment and betting on green building segment.
 
Much of the credit for the success of the lighting business go to Santoor, the company’s flagship soap brand. Riding high on the success of Santoor, the company has been selling its lighting products through every retail outlet it has access to through the soap brand.
 
“We have access to 800,000 outlets which a Philips or a Bajaj did not have because they do not have a carrier brand like Santoor to take them to kirana outlets. So they can only reach consumers through electrical outlets,” said Vineet Agrawal, chief executive officer, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL).

 
With revenues of around Rs 8.6 billion, lighting accounts for around 26 per cent to the WCCL overall business, which recently crossed the $1-billion revenue mark. Wipro has positioned itself as the fourth largest lighting brand in the country after Philips, Surya and Crompton.
 
“When we got into the lighting business, we bled for the first 4 years. But since we had set up our own manufacturing plant in Aurangabad, there was no option of going back,” added Agrawal. The company, which has been growing 18 per cent y-o-y in the home lighting segment and 16 per cent y-o-y in the commercial lighting segment, has witnessed double digit growth in the LED segment because of high refurbishing demand from clients.
 
In commercial lighting, the company has forayed into outdoor lighting such as street lights, and has partnered with the government to work on the lighting aspect of several Metro projects, including Delhi Metro.

 
Agarwal said, the company is innovating lighting solutions for smart workspaces. It recently collaborated with Cisco for Power on Ethernet (PoE)-based lighting solutions through which power can be carried via data cables. This technology has been installed at multiple locations in India.
 
The company is also making efforts to commercialise Li-Fi technology in India, wherein lights beam internet connectivity. It has several advantages such as working across higher bandwidth, working in areas susceptible to electromagnetic interference and offering higher transmission speeds, says Agarwal.
 
The Bengaluru-based company is also working on human-centric lighting solutions for new age offices, which follows the pattern of the natural light and increases productivity at workplace.
 
Outside of India, Wipro has already forayed into neighbouring Sri Lankan market for its lighting business. Agarwal however said that the company has no immediate to plan to get into any new geography.