Market Dynamics
Major brands like APC, Numeric Power Systems and WeP ruled the roost during the year garnering nearly 67% of the overall market both value and unit-wise. Next were vendors like Champion, Luminous, and DB Power who were strong in certain regions of the country. This group too accounted for 16% of the market, with many of them potentially capable of graduating to the national league. However, the UPS market was still cluttered and unsystematic at the lower end, and this encouraged the presence of a host of local players. In particular, Delhi, Pune, and Chennai were pockets that bred local UPS players virtually like a cottage industry. This unorganized segment too accounted for nearly 18% of the market: these local players primarily attracted buyers who were price conscious. But, when it came to performance, reliability and after sales service, the branded players had an upper hand and thereby gained ground.

Traditionally considered a device to ensure power back up, UPS is now being seen more as a power provider, an essential component of business continuity plans

Like many other categories, UPS too witnessed maximum traction in the BFSI, government and BPO segments. Telecom, IT services, hospitality, pharma, manufacturing, medical, and textiles too started gaining grounds during 2006-07. But, the key factor driving the growth of the Indian UPS market was the growing vertical penetration into B and C class cities.

As per IDC, the most prominent sectors prompting an exponential growth of the UPS market are the SMB and SOHO segments. With the demand for mission critical applications and saving energy on the rise, SMBs too showed keenness during the year for enhanced systems. However, even though these organizations were fast realizing the importance of network uptime, they continued to remain price conscious, causing branded players to design and offer the best possible power conditioning equipment by keeping the cost factor in mind.

The upsurge experienced by the SOHO segment has been responsible for the rapid 37% growth in UPS consumption (sub-5.1 kVA) over the past year. Though the home segment has not been categorized by Dataquest while sizing the sub-5.1 kVA market, this is another area that witnessed significant growth. Vendors like APC and Intex introduced during the year a whole set of product lines catering to this segment. The home UPS segment was also highly service based, allowing players like Intex with good after service facilities to prosper.

Chethana Gadiyar
chethanag@cybermedia.co.in

Page(s)   1  2