India’s growth story intact: Schneider Electric

December 12, 2013 8:30 am

To commemorate 50 years of operations in India, Schneider Electric is organising roadshows in 50 cities across the country. On the sidelines of this roadshow – Xperience Efficiency Yatra, 2013 – in Mumbai, S Nagaranjan, Vice President, Power Business, Schneider Electric India speaks to Subhajit Roy. Excerpts:
How did you conceive the concept of ‘Xperience Efficiency Yatra’?The roadshow, Xperience Efficiency Yatra, has been conceived to commemorate 50 years of operations in India by Schneider Electric. Our customers are important to us and we are taking this opportunity to connect with them by inviting them to our roadshows in 50 cities across the country, updating and enlightening them about our solutions and talking about the hot topic of the day in India, which is energy efficiency. Through this opportunity, we have also tried to increase awareness about our 50 for 50 campaign which was launched on the occasion of our 50th year in India. As part of the campaign, we invited ideas (of which the Top 50 would be recognized & awarded) that could be implemented everywhere by everybody to save 50 million kWh of energy. Ideas can come in from within the organization, as well as from the public and consumers in general. From the ideas that we have received till now, many are sustainable and involve a mix of everything – our own products and solutions, existing  energy-saving practices or by bringing new solutions to the marketplace – it is a combination of all those.
As far as the Indian market is concerned, how do see these 50 years?We started our operations in India in 1963, when Merlin Gerin, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, signed a JV with Tata Sons. The first 40 years were good, and we became more active towards late 90s. We started setting up/ acquiring factories and today we have 32 factories in all. The last 5 – 6 years have been great for us because we have really accelerated our growth and are a major player in India in the energy management solutions space today.  
Which is the most important acquisition you accomplished in India?All our acquisitions are important to us. When we talk of energy efficiency, first we need to have devices to measure it. When we talk about power quality, we need the capacitors. So, I would not say any one is lesser than the other. However, with the latest acquisition of Areva we entered a new vertical which is medium-voltage space.
All put together, the strategy is very clear, from plant to plug. Schneider Electric is the only company in this area which can give solutions across segments and sectors – right from the time when energy is generated, till the time it is consumed, including your homes switches and so on.

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