The Rs 1,500-crore UPS market is dominated at the national level by several
MNCs. But local players in all the regions too play a major role. Thus, it comes
as no surprise that the Eastern region has six local contenders. These include
Leonics, AVO, Epoch and Voltas companies that have occupied a good amount of
market share in the Eastern region. However, companies like Tata Liebert (now
renamed as Emerson Network Power), APC, Microtek and TVSE have built up their
brand image over a period of time and local players have to think of ways and
means to grab marketshare from these big-timers.
With
the power situation showing no improvement in the Eastern region, UPS vendors
are looking forward to selling an UPS with every PC.
Players from the East who have a presence in the national market include HiTA
and Frontech. Frontech is only a recent entrant but has already established its
presence. Launched in August 2001, the product is available with dealers across
the nation. "The response to our product has been very good and we see an
enormous potential in the market," says Hirdejit Singh, GM, Jupiter
Infotech. According to Singh, the opportunity is enormous because every PC buyer
now complements the purchase with a UPS. The UPS market is moving forward with
increasing PC sales. The average ratio between the sale of a PC and an UPS which
used to be 5:1, is in the process of changing. Local players have an advantage
over national players because they are in a position to price their products
attractively. They also have a good distribution network. For instance, players
like AVO and Voltas have increased their clientele because their products are
available at half the prices compared to Emerson Network or APC.
National ambition
"We want to project HiTA as a national brand in the coming years and will
emerge as a serious contender in the 10KV+ market. In the next two years, we
intend to capture substantial market share and reach the A-category among
UPS,"says Arun Ghosh, MD, Digital Data Systems. Switching Electronics has
been flooding the market with its Leonics-AVO, an ISO 9002 UPS. As MD Anup
Agarwal says, "Future plans include the setting up of more service centers
with qualified engineers in different towns and cities across the country."
UPSs for rugged conditions
Epoch, another local player in Kolkata, is gaining ground. Epoch, an ISO
9001 company, is engaged in manufacturing on-line and line-interactive UPSs and
has a turnover of more than Rs 6 crore. "Our products can function in
rugged conditions. On one hand, they can work in villages in the interior of the
country and on the other, in the tea gardens of Assam. We have a strong
marketing team interacting closely with the customers and is backed by a strong
after-sales support network," says C Kundu, MD, Epoch.
Epoch has plans to explore the non-conventional energy market and intends to
manufacture Power Factor Corrected (PFC) Chargers to increase the efficiency of
the UPS Systems. In the Eastern home segment, APC is most widely used in spite
of its high price. According to Supreme Infotech, a reseller of computer
hardware and peripherals, APC is popular because of its brand name and quality.
So APC, Tata Libert, Micro-tek and TVS are still the winners as far as assurance
and brand image is concerned and they occupy 50% of the market. "At the
point when pricing becomes crucial, local brands like AVO and Voltas become
favorable buying options," says PK Kadriwal, GM, Oscar. For TVS, the
Eastern market is very promising sand has a growth target set at 20-25% in the
next fiscal. "The market in the north-east is untapped and we are gearing
up to make a strong presence there. We already have 100 dealers and 50 service
centers there," says AK Barua, Regional Head, TVS Electronics.
High import duty
One of the threats faced by local UPS manufacturers comes from the high
import duty that they have to pay for components which are not available
locally. Market players hope that the budget for 2002-03 will provide some
succor in this respect. The other threat comes from dumping by countries like
Taiwan and China.
RADHIKA BHUYAN/CNS in Kolkata