Gupta Power Infrastructure Limited (GPIL) an Orissa based manufacturing power house of all types of conductors & cables has been growing steadily since its inception in 1961. During the last 5 decades the company has evolved as a Numero Uno of the industry. During the journey they have diversified their portfolio but one thing that is constant till date is the philosophy of “Truthfulness, Honesty & Commitment”. The hum of “Haribol” and Satsang echo’s in the spirit of GPIL from past to the new generation. During the interaction with the team Wire & Cable India both Mr. Mahendra Gupta & Mr. Abhishek Gupta elaborated about the GPIL operations, strategies, R&D, future prospects etc. Excerpts….

The Voyage

The seed of success of Gupta Power was sown by Late Shri Jagdish Rai Gupta. A visionary, philanthropist, and humanitarian who throughout his life had believed that truthfulness, honesty, commitment, desire for happiness and welfare of mankind as the pillars of the organizations.

In 1961, the company was set up under the name & style of Gupta Cables (P) Ltd. for manufacturing of PVC of wires & cables.
In 1970 took over the management and manufacturing of bare 7 strands aluminium conductors.
In 1972-73 GPIL got its first order.
In 1978 Mr. Mahendra Gupta took over the responsibilities of the company after completing his graduation.
GPIL started with a production of aluminium conductors.
Moved to the production of AAAC, ACSR, Extra Highest Voltage Conductors, AACSR.
The company went into the backward integration and set up properzi plants for production of aluminium and alloy wire rods.
Diversified to the production of aerial bunched cable.
Developed the G-power brand of different arrays of cables which includes HT Power Cables up to 33KV, LT, XLPE/PVC power cables 1.1 KV, control cables, instrumentation cables/signal cables thermocouple extension cables, house wiring cables, mining cables and special cables.
GPIL has installed largest PSC poles manufacturing unit in Orissa.
The company has entered into the field of electricity project implementation on turnkey basis by utilizing 40% of in house products of cable and conductors. Under various schemes of central & state government like RGGVY, BGJY etc.
They also run an aluminium rolling mill and are also exploring to put up a molten metal plant.
Being at a nascent stage GPIL was not qualified to enter the Power Grid. But as they fulfilled the criteria of supplying 1000 kms of particular product they qualified to enter Power Grid and then it was no looking back.

Philosophy

Mr. Gupta quickly responded by quoting a quote “With great powers come great responsibilities” which is applicable for all of us from management to the operators, inspire us to innovate & offer the best. Here we all have freedom to ideate, work by own and give the best which will lead to achieve the goal, success, reach to wide range of customers, make them satisfied and be the numero uno”.

Strategies & Mantra

GPIL new — Mr. Mahendra Gupta & Mr. Abhishek Gupta

We are the firm believers that our assets are our people. We have always intended upon making a better team by placing right people at the right place. Our aim is to develop wider quality conscious customer base by providing the complete cable solutions. To accelerate the growth the company invests in the people, technology and product mix to ensure that customer gets the better value for their money. Our main thrust is to innovate constantly meeting global and market standards with new and better technologies in order to provide quality products.

R&D, Capacity Expansion, Technology Improvement at GPIL

With the clear focus on moving up the value chain we have made concrete plans of venturing into EHV (extra high voltage) cables. We have already finalized the machinery from an overseas manufacturer for making cable up to 66kv. Besides this, the company will soon start a project for manufacturing EVH cable up to 220kv with foreign technical association. Progressing to EHV cables has been one of the most significant developments in the Indian cable industry. India is seriously looking at the deployment of EHV cables as they are very cost efficient in the long term. Underground EHV will soon replace the overhead power distribution conductors in urban areas with a view to curbing power theft and ensuring better power supply.
We are planning to develop low loss power conductors and are actively involved in development of new energy efficient conductors to address the global power demand.
Gupta Power has developed the G-Trans brand of energy efficient high ampacity conductors like G-Trans59, GTrans57, G-Trans high tech EC to reduce the transmission losses and for more power transfer. These energy efficient conductors have very low resistance than the convectional conductors and reduce the power losses in the transmission line. GPIL has also developed the indigenous G Trans brand of high conductors like G Trans STACIR, G Trans TACSR, and G Trans ACSS to address the up rating lines coming up in India. GPIL high temperature conductos have double ampacity than ACSR and can replace an existing ACSR conductor without any tower enforcement.
Development of PVC compound for our own use.
Working towards the production of more compacted conductors as this will help in reduction of usage of material.
The company has invested in the technology solutions like SAP, Cable Builder software etc.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Mr. Gupta replied “GPIL is into solar power projects for which land acquisition as well as DPR is complete. Very soon they will be venturing into environment friendly projects like carbon trading. The group also run engineering colleges in Orissa and generates bio-energy by using rice husk for generating power. Some of the steps which the company is taking on this track are

Manufacturing of Lead free PVC compounds.
Reduction of smoke generation from boilers by using fuel efficiently.
Disposal of scrap generation of XLPE compounds.

Path Breaking Projects

Our EPC division has successfully illuminated near about 1500 villages in Orissa with the vision of social transformation.
GPIL is one of the largest suppliers of conductors to PGCIL which is Asia’s largest transmission company.
Export order from KEC International & VKR repeat orders.
Adani Power has inducted them as one of the suppliers for their big power project, this was their second biggest order. The first order was from TATA Power Grid for Tala transmission project.

Future Prospects

Future plan includes building up relations, exploring and venturing into new areas of growth. Expansion and modernization of our existing set up are in the pipeline. More importantly we have now gone into full fledged cable production in our ultra- modern plant and machinery at strategic locations all over the country. The group is exploring the possibilities of strategic alliance with sound foreign collaborators for up grading to the highest level of cable manufacturing with a probable investment of 200-300 crores in a new state of art plant.

Challenges

Mr. Abhishek Gupta highlighted 2 main challenges for the wire and cable industry

Knowledge sharing – The more you share the knowledge the more it grows. The industry has to open a bit in order to establish the transparency in each and everything. The flow of information from top to bottom must be smooth in order to have cordial environment. Once your process is solid, then you need not worry about anything.
Skilled Manpower- the availability of the skilled manpower is not in abundance. Also retaining the people is a big challenge for the industry.