Dipping mercury inverts power systems sale

The clouds playing hide and seek in north India this summer is scorching one industry for sure : the inverter manufacturers. It’s no longer an industry that sold its ware...

The clouds playing hide and seek in north India this summer is scorching one industry for sure : the inverter manufacturers. It’s no longer an industry that sold its ware like hot cakes this season. Apart from weather mood swings, slightly better power supply has led to a slowdown in inverter sales growth to 10-15 per cent against an expected 20-25 per cent.

Speaking to The Indian Express, director, Regional Meteorological Centre, S C Bhan said, “Apart from pleasant weather conditions which prevailed for more than two weeks in the region, good rainfall in last winters ensured sufficient hydel-power generation. This has resulted in regular power supply. The monsoon has already touched the south-eastern states. It is likely to spread over northern states by the first week of July.”

The peak season for sale of inverters is April through June. According to meteorological department, while the mercury did touch very high levels, it did not stay there for too long this year and for most days remained moderate, that is, below 40 degree celsius. Due to pre-monsoon showers the rainfall recorded has been above the normal level. Delhi, for instance, has recorded a rainfall of 122 mm against normal rainfall of 55 mm.

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A few weeks ago, industry chamber Assocham had released a paper forecasting 20-25 per cent hike in the demand for inverters. It was said that industrial and residential areas, hospitals, schools and shopping centres could face power cuts of 10-12 hours a day in view of power demand-supply mismatch.

“It is true that this time the sale of inverter manufacturers has been adversely affected because of weather conditions,” said Kunwer Sachdev, CEO, Su-Kam Power Systems. “But more than big players, smaller ones have been affected. We have set a turnover target of Rs 800 crore this time against last year’s figure of Rs 405 crore and are confident of achieving it because we did not depend on sale of low capacity inverters, which are used for residential purpose.” This season the company introduced 5-25 KV inverters to cater to the commercial segment.

“We sold 4 lakh units last year recording 100 per cent sales growth,” said Rakesh Malhotra, MD, Luminous Power Technologies, admitting that this year inverter sales have been affected due to pre-monsoon showers. “We have already supplied 9 lakh units to our dealers and distributors. But the exact sales figures would be available only after a month or so”, he added.

Vivek Jain, director, Microtek Inverters has a similar story to tell. He admits that moderate temperature and pre-monsoon showers have affected inverter sales. “Although 20-25 per cent growth every season for inverters is normal due to erratic power supply and soaring mercury in summer season, this has not been the case this year. We are expecting a growth rate of about 18 per cent.”