Wipro Consumer to set up facility at Baddi

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, part of IT and FMCG major Wipro Ltd, is setting up a manufacturing facility for lighting at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. The facility, which will be operational by 2006 end, will manufacture the entire range of Wipro Lighting and will cater to the north India market.

Rajesh Kochhar, Chief Executive, Commercial & Institutional business, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, told media persons that the company has set up the new manufacturing line within its existing facility which makes soaps and fatty acids.

Kochhar, however, did not disclose the details about the investment or the capacity of the new facility. "The decision to set up a facility at Baddi was guided by the market trends and the availability of tax concessions," he said.

Speaking to media persons on the sidelines of "Wipro Light Show 2006", Kochhar elaborated on Wipro Consumer Care's initiatives in commercial and institutional segments, which include a new range of architectural lighting tailor-made for the retail segment and commercial establishments.

"Lighting is one of most the critical parameters in creating the right kind of ambience in a shopping space and to increase footfalls," Kochar stressed.

The company demonstrated its latest Light Emitting Diodes (LED) based fixtures that it intends to market as solutions for creating special effects including downlighting, facade and interior walkthrough.

"The proportion of this business to the total business is very small at the moment, but there is a lot of scope to educate the consumers and expand the market," Kochar said.

The company presently imports light source from Luxion, US, to integrate it with its fittings, Kochar explained. He added that making own light sources will require considerable investments and the present market size does not justify the investment.

Pointing out that the cost of world-class lighting in a commercial structure would be about Rs 30 to Rs 40 per square feet, Kochhar said, the market size would be about Rs 600 crore in the short term.

Kochar said the company "" enthused by its success in the Delhi Metro Rail project "" was on the look out for infrastructure projects such as airport modernisation or metro rail projects in other cities. "Our solution has ensured energy savings of up to 70 per cent as we have created controls that will manage the brightness according to the need of the hour," he said.

The company has undertaken a research and development project that aims to control office lighting to create a 'day like light situation' by the night.

"There is a huge rise in the IT enabled services establishments that work round the clock and we see a potential in this segment as day-like lighting in night shifts will have a benign impact on the efficiency of the staff," Kochar said.

He said such controls are available in advanced countries but to import them would be exorbitant. Kochar said the solution is likely to be ready in the next one year.