Wipro expects 15 pc of domestic lighting sales from smart segment in 2 years

Wipro Lighting expects its smart products to account for 15 per cent of its total domestic lighting product sales in the next two years, said a company official.

The company, which showcased a range of smart home products here, had made a foray into the segment in October 2018 and is strengthening its product portfolio by adding more items.

Besides, Wipro Lighting, part of over USD 1-billion Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, also expects prices of its lighting solutions to go up by around 10 per cent from mid-March due to the outbreak of coronavirus in China, as the components supply has been impacted.

"This fiscal, around 3 per cent of the total lighting sales would come from the smart lighting solution and we are expecting that by 2021-22, we should be close to around 15 per cent," Sanjay Gupta, senior vice-president and business head (consumer lighting and switches) at Wipro, told PTI.

Around 35 per cent of the India business of Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting comes comes from the lighting segment.

"We are also seeing sockets a big category and we are also confident on door bells. In the lighting, we would have more SKUs (stock-keeping units)," he said.

Founded in 1945 as a vegetable oil company, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting has now presence in over 40 countries and get around 50 per cent of its business from the international market.

Gupta further added that though 2019-20 was a "challenging year" as the real estate was under a slowdown and rural economy was under stress but Wipro had a high single-digit growth in the lighting segment, higher than the industry growth.

"We are confident that 2020-21 would be much better year, as we are expecting that real estate would start recovering and there would be some recovery in overall economy also," he said.

On being asked about the impact of novel coronavirus on the prices of lighting products, Gupta said, "As of now no, but in another one month, yes, it would be."