The company has made steady inroads into a wide gamut of electrical products over a period along with establishing its brand in India and beyond. Cables, conductors, housing wires, LEDs, and recently introduced end-to-end terrestrial fiber optic cables are some of the notable offerings from the company. Besides, its EPC division has carried out some major electricity projects in public and private domains.
Mr. Abhishek Gupta, Director, Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd. (GPIL) is a winning industrialist in the Manufacturing Domain. The steering force behind his success story is his values and beliefs as well as his education and global work experience. His experience of working for two years in the USA has served as a prolific podium to join the family business in the year 2003/2004. Today, GPIL has entered every nooks and corner of Odisha, as well as other states, addressing the needs of industries, with its products and services, while mounting its business into other countries as well. He has established Business Associates in South African and Latin American countries towards product supply, owing to his stronghold on international marketing.
WCI recently interviewed Mr. Abhishek Gupta to know if there are any new developments in the company. Excerpts:
Wire & Cable India: Give us a brief summary of your product portfolio. Is there any new development on the product, process, or market front? Are you planning any new expansion?
Abhishek Gupta: Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd is a long-established name in the manufacturing domain with its array of cables, conductors, household wires and LED lighting. It offers a single-window solution for all kinds of electrical requirements through its unmatched product offerings comprising overhead conductors, thermocouple cables, airfield lighting cables, specialized cables and of late optical fiber cables. Boosted by the strength of its consistent growth, Gupta Power Infrastructure Ltd has ventured into the manufacture of house wiring and LED, under the brand name ‘Rhino’. Currently, Rhino retail products are available through 500 registered dealers and distributors and over 5000 retail outlets across the country.
The EPC division has an objective of empowering lives by offering a turnkey solution for HV and EHV S/S up to 765 KV Class and associated transmission lines right from the conceptual to the commissioning stage. We are a premier agency in Indian Power League (IPL). The division has successfully completed different types of power infrastructure projects for esteemed clients like PGCIL, NHPC, NTPC, OPTCL, CESU, NESCO, SOUTHCO, IOCL and others. Our EPC division has undertaken various projects under RGGVY and BGJY schemes of the Central and State govt. for rural electrification, construction of 11 and 33 KV feeder line, construction of 33 KV Substations, construction of EHV Substations as well as T/L up to 765 KV, underground cabling work through trenchless technology, replacement of existing T/L with HTLS type conductor, system improvement and up-gradation of S/s & line works, etc..
WCI: How is the company adapting to sustainable development?
AG: The focus of our company lies on meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Over the years, we have adapted many sustainable development strategies. The first one is ‘green conductor manufacturing’. We are using our entire machine having almost nil pollution in our conductor and cable manufacturing process.
Then there is water recycling. The water reuse system is a system to obtain regenerated water by using overflow from a final sedimentation tank as raw water. The system makes it possible to obtain good-quality treated water with compact equipment by combining ozone treatment and flocculation with the ceramic membrane
The third strategy is the Installation of solar power system. The entire plant runs on solar power. We believe in green energy. Thus, saving around 1486 Kgs of carbon generation that is equal to 5448 Kgs of carbon dioxide emission into the environment.
Automatic oil filtration is also one of the strategies. We are using automatic oil filtration system in our plant to enhance life and consumption which leads to saving the environment and also reduce waste oil generation.
Lastly, we have LED light in plants. We have changed entire plant lighting system with LED lighting from conventional lighting/CFL lighting system, which leads to 50 percent saving in power with better illumination.
WCI: Please tell us about the technical infrastructure for wire and cable manufacturing. How was the plant in the pilot stage? Since then, have you expanded or invested in new technology or machinery?
AG: With a strong vision, groundbreaking ideas, and foresight, Gupta Power began its journey towards success in the year 1961 and reached the pinnacle through persistent efforts, continuous innovation, quality control, and relentless customer service. Within few years it became a specialist in cables and conductors and expanded business globally. The company later forayed into the house wire segment of the market under the brand ‘Rhino’. In 2016, Rhino launched the widest range of LED products – commercial, domestic, road lighting, area lighting and industrial lighting.
There are three ultra modern manufacturing facilities with latest technologies in its SBUs. Plants at Khurda and Kashipur make both cables and conductors whereas the one located near Chennai is dedicated towards manufacturing of conductors. For quality products, Gupta Power has established in-house R&D division, hi-tech laboratory and quality assurance division. The carefully planned designs play a major role in providing the market with continuously improving products.
Within the short span of time, there are many best practices we have adopted. We have adopted lighting laboratory and research center: NABL Certified laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art transmission technologies to test signal performance in long-haul networks. The laboratory’s operations cover all aspects of software and hardware applications technology in lightings. Since inception, it has proven vital for quality assurance division and design centre. We have also introduced SAP business intelligence towards better work process in warehouse management and materials management and procurement. Besides, we have developed various CRM platforms enable us to get direct insight from customers. GPIL has joined hands with TCS to streamline the retail operation of Rhino division, i.e. complete automation for our dealer management system, channel sales, secondary sales loyalty management and so on.
WCI: As you are primarily into housing wire, tell us how your housing wire product range has evolved over the period of time and what kind of trends you have foreseen. Further, what changes we might witness in near future?
AG: During the initial years the company started as a manufacturer of cables and conductors and later ventured into house wires and LED lightings. The company has been continuously expanding capacity, capability and product range by improving and expanding existing facilities and also setting up new facilities from time to time. The company also aims at catering the needs of the market by venturing into solar power projects. The solar power is a three-phase grid-tie transformer-less system where solar energy is converted to electrical energy through a solar inverter. These inverters convert the DC input supplied from roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) modules array into three-phase AC output.
Further in expansion plan, we have introduced a complete range of end-to-end terrestrial fiber optic cables for a variety of applications in telecommunication networks; majorly the emphasis is on Digital India. OFC is the next step in improving our communication system. To strengthen our EPC division work we have introduced HTLS conductor. The specialty of the conductor is it has high current carrying capacity and low sag-tension property. Installation of this conductor is easy and rapid.
WCI: As per market research statistics, the Indian wire and cable industry is growing at 15-16 percent CAGR and will continue to grow as such for the next five years or so. Do you agree? Where is the demand coming from?
AG: The wires and cables industry in India has come a long way. The industry has been growing at the rate of around 15 percent. According to the prediction of market research analysts at Technavio, the electric wire and cable market in India will grow steadily during the next four years and post a CAGR of almost 16 percent by 2020. The growth in renewable power generation would be one of the primary factors for the growth of the electric cable and wire market in India. Railways, oil & refinery, and petroleum industry will also be the major sectors for contributing to the growth. The government has announced ambitious plans for infrastructure development. In addition to that, the government has plans to develop 100 smart cities across the country. Highway projects are lined up under National Highways Building Project (NHDP). So, I believe that the wire and cable industry will eventually supply wires and cables for various applications pertaining to the industry needs.
