“We have been catering to stabiliser segments of the wire & cable industry for more than half a century.”
Waldies Compound Ltd. is one of the oldest chemical manufacturing companies in India. Established in 1858, Waldies is a leading manufacturer of lead oxides and lead leased PVC stabilisers. In an interview with Wire & Cable India magazine, Mr. Deepak Ojha, Managing Director, Waldies Compound Ltd. talks about the company’s business journey, product portfolio, and the market potential of cable compounds.
Wire & Cable India: Kindly brief us about your business journey and product portfolio
Deepak Ojha: Waldies is a household name in the field of specialty chemicals. Not just now or the last decade, but for several decades, it has remained to be a renowned chemical brand. It manufactures products for PVC, glass, paints, ceramics, automotive, explosives, and other such industries.
Waldies parents four brands, Ducatus, Griffin, D’WALL and Virichem. Ducatus is an economically feasible PVC and additive manufacturing brand for the industries and Griffin is a world-renowned manufacturer of oxides of lead which are used widely in the production of batteries. D’WALL is a decorative and construction brand for paints, primers, and other coatings. Virichem is our new innovative brand for eco-friendly PVC stabilizers, additives and impact modifiers.
Tribasic Lead Sulphate, Di-basic Lead Stearate, Di-basic Lead Phthalate, OnePacks, Metal Salts, and lead-free Calcium Zinc Stabilizers are some of our top-selling line of products. Together, these brands house almost 200 ranges of SKUs in varied propositions.
WCI: Tell us about your manufacturing facility and the range is dedicated to the PVC segment.
DO: Our manufacturing facility is spread across 20 acres of land which is preserved for over 160 years now. At the site, the manufacturing is divided into two segments, a North Plant and a South plant.
South Plant is responsible for the manufacturing of products used for the PVC segments. In our combined turnover with subsidiaries, sales in the PVC industry are more than 56 percent whereas out of the installed capacities, 35 percent of the P&M are for the PVC segment.
WCI: What is your current market presence? Also, elaborate on the products catering to the wire & cable industry.
DO: Waldies Compound Ltd. is a more than one and half century-old company. We have been catering to stabiliser segments of the wire & cable industry for more than half a century. We are the oldest manufacturers of these in India.
The stabilisers include TBLS, DBLS, LS, CS, Ca Zn, lubricants etc. Our stabilisers are used by both organised and unorganised segments. Our market share of this segment is around 15 to 20 percent in India. All major manufacturers in India are using our product or have used it in the past. Our product quality is rated to be the best in India.
We have started manufacturing and supplying Zn and Ca based stabilisers due to their increasing demand. Waldies manufactures Red Lead for batteries and various other applications, stabilisers (lead based, Zn based, Ba based) and lubricants for the cable and pipe industry.
WCI: Could you shed light on some of your upcoming products along with their USPs?
DO: As for being a chemical company, new products and developments are always underway. Still, as the question is directed, I’d like to share that we are working extensively with PVC compounders that will cater to the rigid needs of the industry, such as Liquid mix metals and Tin compounds etc.
Virichem, on the other hand, was our new brand, supposedly to be launched in 2020 but we all know how things are now, so we entered into the market with our lead-free eco-friendly super impactful products without a marketing campaign and launch. We are, however, planning to have a commercial launch of Virichem and the compound brand very soon.
WCI: How do you view the wire and cable industry and the market potential of cable compounds? What are the recent trends and future prospects?
“The cable and wire segment has a very bright future and we will see the same technologies with minor changes for the next 3 to 5 decades.”
DO: Most of the industry is passing through technological developments, changes, obsolescence. For example, auto companies are shifting from IC engines to electric mobility. And we may see a variety of changes due to switching over from IC engine to electric mobility. The communication world is also moving from 2G/4G to 5G/6G technologies etc.
However, fortunately, no major changes are foreseen as far as the cable & wire segment is concerned except in high voltage of power transmission, where wireless technologies are being tested.
“Currently, if we go by conservative estimate, the market size is estimated to be around INR 40,000 crore annually in India with a health growth rate of
12.5 percent (CAGR).”
The cable and wire segment has a very bright future and we will see the same technologies with minor changes for the next 3 to 5 decades. It can be turned into a stable segment with excellent growth potential over at least the next half-century both in India and overseas markets.
Currently, if we go by conservative estimate, the market size is estimated to be around INR 40,000 crore annually in India with a health growth rate of 12.5 percent (CAGR). The major segments of wire & cable include the infrastructure segment (60 percent), agriculture & auto (20 percent), telecom (12 percent), and power cable (8 percent). Around 60 percent of production comes from the organised sector and the rest from the unorganised sector. More than 50 percent of power & cables are used by low voltage segments.
The worldwide annual turnover of this sector is around USD 200 billion with a healthy growth rate of around CAGR 6.5 percent.
In India, looking to investments in various GOI schemes like housing to all, power to every household, potable water to every person, modernisation of railway, growth of industrial segments, developments of new areas like infrastructure, space segments, defence segments will definitely increase consumption of wire & cable and we can safely assume it is double in next five years.
Thus, if we take the present market size of INR 40,000 crore, sheathed cable accounts for 80 percent which is INR 32,000 crores. This segment uses stabilisers worth INR 320 crores and its size is expected to go to around INR 650 crores in the next 5 years.
