EASTERN UPS MARKET: Get, Set, Grow

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 who 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 the market share from these big-timers.

With the power situation showing no improvement in the

Eastern region, all UPS players look forward to selling an UPS with every PC.

And this phenomenon is growing at a steady pace bringing constant business.

From East to national front



Players that have made a national presence from East are HiTA

and Frontech. Frontech is only a recent entrant into the market but has already

made a strong 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

figured that there is an enormous potential in the market," says Hirdejit

Singh, GM, Jupiter Infotech. "We are optimistic about the product for its

quality and latest features," he adds. According to Singh, the opportunity

is enormous because every PC buyer now complements his or her purchase with an

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 Power or APC.

In a cost-conscious market, AVO and Voltas have attracted

customers with their attractive prices and after-sales service. This is one of

the reasons why Digital Data Systems (DDS) has been able to achieve an annual

turnover of Rs 10 crore.

National ambitions



"We want to project HiTA as a national brand in the

coming years and will come out with a serious contender in the 10KV+ market. In

the next two years we intend to capture a 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. "Our product offers a tough challenge to our

competitors. We see a big opportunity in the market. We want to capture the

market share with economically priced quality products," says Anup Agarwal,

MD, Switching Electronics.

Anup wants to give wide publicity to his products in the

coming months while setting up more service centers with qualified engineers in

different towns and cities across the country.

UPSs for rugged conditions



Epoch, another local player in Calcutta, is gaining steady

ground. Epoch, an ISO 9001 accredited company, is engaged in manufacturing

on-line and line-interactive UPSs and has a turnover of more than Rs 6 crore.

"Our products can work in any rugged conditions. On the

one hand, they can work in the interior villages and on the other, in the tea

gardens of Assam thereby taking wide range of input variations. Also 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.

According to Kundu, customers are concerned about pricing and

not the technical aspects. The company plans to expand its marketing network

throughout India. Negotiations are on for making a foray into the exports

market.

Epoch has plans to explore the non-conventional energy market

and intends to manufacture Power Factor Corrected (PFC) Charger to increase the

efficiency of the UPS Systems manifold within the next few months.

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 percent of

the market space. "At some point where pricing becomes crucial, local

brands like AVO and Voltas become favorable buying options," says PK

Kadriwal, GM, Oscar.

For TVS Electronics, the Eastern market is very promising

with immense potential and has a growth target set at 20-25 percent in the next

fiscal. "The market in the North-East is totally untapped and we are

gearing up to make a strong presence there. We already have 100 dealers and 50

service centers and with a high-end value we are very assured of reaching our

target," 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 the 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 UPSs that are dumped from

countries like Taiwan and China at extremely low prices. Local manufacturers are

keenly waiting for the Central as well as state governments to take some

concrete actions to stop the dumping of cheap UPSs from the Far East.

RADHIKA BHUYAN in Kolkata