Powerware International to sell home-made UPS abroad

Ashu Kumar in New Delhi

In a bid to improve its brand visibility, Powerware International, the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of the UK-based $15.3 billion Invensys group, is getting into the consumer segment with its new 550 VA uniterruptible power system (UPS).

The new UPS, designed, developed and manufactured in India, will also be exported by the company to other South Asian countries. Powerware was so far operating at the high end industrial UPS market in India.

The company has decided to enter the mass consumer market to gain better brand visibility and expanding its consumer base in the Indian market, Powerware International managing director Deepak Sharma told The Financial Express.

Powerware International is a part of Invensys’ Powerware divison which competes with American Power Conversion (APC) in the worldwide UPS market. The company claims to be the number two UPS player after APC globally.

“In India, Powerware has appointed two new distributors: Salora and ACI with access to around 750 resellers and service network. We have decided to develop and manufacture the products in India because of the wider range of voltage requirement due to power fluctuations,” said Mr Sharma.

Mr Sharma also said that the company was planning to expand its product range in India market and would be launching DC power solutions for telecommunication service providers soon. “We have given our systems to a few leading telecom operators to test and will be entering the commercial market soon,” he added.

The company, which is expected to earn around Rs 25 crore revenue in this fiscal (March-April 2002), plans to double its revenue in fiscal 2003 with the contribution from consumer UPS as well as DC power systems.

Powerware Internal was earlier a 51:49 joint venture between Invensys and Crompton Greaves. The company had become a wholly-owned subsidiary after Invensys bought out the Crompton Greaves’s stake in December last year. Invensys has invested around $3 million since then to revitalise the Indian operations, said Mr Sharma.