French multinational Schneider Electric aims to grow faster than market for digital power products with its new innovations.“We aim to grow faster than what the market grows and we do this with bringing innovation into the picture. We are observing more adaptation of digital technology in infrastructure development,” said Nikhil Pathak, vice president, power products and digital energy at Schneider.
Pathak said certain segments such as cloud and service providers are seeing a huge expansion in the country due to the way data centers are being built.“We see immense opportunity here. Starting with Web giants to Indian colocation providers, we work closely with our customers to make their critical infrastructure more efficient, safe, and reliable. Every third Data center globally is powered by Schneider electric. So likewise, segment by segment, we see that there are opportunities.,” he said.
He said opportunities are there in terms of transportation be it metro rail or airports, energy, chemicals, power and commercial and industrial real estate. “ However, our focus is more on helping our customer for digital transformation because we think today it is not an option if you want your infrastructure more efficient and reliable and safe,” he said.
It recently launched eight new digital power products including product in air circuit breaker with launch of MasterPacT MTZ Active; a new electrical panel which is BlokSeT Lean which saves metals for buildings which in turn helps in lower carbon footprint. BlokSeT lean is a low voltage switchboard for power distribution and helps in 15 to 18 % footprint reduction.
It also launched EcoStruxure Energy Hub, part of its EcoStruxure for small and mid-size buildings, which is a subscription-based energy management software designed to empower building owners and facility personnel to manage their buildings’ energy with ease and helps to meet energy regulations, achieve energy efficiency goals, and ensure business continuity in one or multiple buildings.
“ Blokset Lean uses fewer resources to manufacture, and it is becoming greener. This is also a green certified, green premium product. When we manufacture these, we have a trail of resources, which we use, and therefore we are also looking at the circularity economy which is moving towards more sustainability and helping our consumers drive a more sustainable future,” Pathak said.
The company is investing in R&D and manufacturing in the country.“India is one of the four global hubs for Schneider Electric. Investments will continue to happen in technology and R&D since we are a technology company. This will be done through investment in talent, “ Pathak said.
“We will be investing Rs. 3,200 crore to build 1.2 million sq ft by 2026. It could be a new factory or a new office.,” he said.
It recently set up a fully automated solar panel plant in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand and set up a new plant in Hyderabad and invested Rs 100 crore for establishing a new cooling plant.“ We are very happy that today India has the capability to manufacture and process all the equipment which can meet global standards in terms of technology and quality,” he said.
India is the third largest market for the company and it is number one in terms of workforce. It has nearly 38000 people working for it in the country. The company has 31 factories in India across multiple states.