EIIL to sell India-made LED lights; aiming Rs 700cr revenue

Dry cell battery major Eveready Industries India Ltd (EIIL) will switch to made-in India LED lights and aiming revenues of more than Rs 700 crore from the segment in the next 2-3 years.
"We will go for made-in-India LEDs by the year end. But, it is not decided whether we will have our own manufacturing or outsource from an Indian vendor," company Managing Director Amritanshu Khaitan said here today.
At present, the company sells LED lights which are outsourced from China.
"LEDs would be the growth driver over the next few years as we see the lighting and electrical business growing by 35-40 per cent in the next 2-3 years. We expect topline from LEDs of Rs 700-1,000 crore," he said.

Falling prices of LED are helping people to switch from CFL, but it is still an urban phenomenon. Over the next three years LED sales will take over CFL lamps, he added.
There will be 25 per cent to 30 per cent decline in LED bulb prices in the next six months, Khaitan said.

Currently, Philips India Ltd, Havells India Ltd and privately held Syska LED are the major domestic players in the segment.
EIIL's lighting and electrical business, which includes LED lights, compact fluorescent lamps, rechargeable fans, portable lanterns and spike busters, reported a revenue of Rs 240 crore during 2014-15, he said.

Eveready has renewed contract with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar for another two years and is spending five per cent of its net sales towards promotion in 2014-15 and in the current fiscal.
The company believes that improved credit rating will help Eveready in reducing its interest burden.
"We have able to improve credit rating and now we are exploring to tap commercial paper market. We will able to reduce rate of borrowing which is now 11-11.5 per cent," Khaitan said.
He added that the company is expecting that interest cost will come down to Rs 20-25 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 33 crore last year.

The company expects to repay long-term debt of Rs 70 crore to Rs 80 crore out of total Rs 170-80 crore by 2016-17, he added.