Panasonic Electric Works India (PEWIN), part of Japan- based Panasonic Corporation, is looking at making India as an export hub for West Asia, Saarc and African countries. The company, which acquired Anchor brand in 2007, has been steadily growing its wiring devices portfolio since then and now aims to focus on new product development and higher exports. It is eyeing to scale up its share of exports from the current 2% to 10% in next seven years.
As part of the strategy, the company will be investing around Rs 300 crore afresh at its latest production facility at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh over a period of three to five years which will see its production capacity being scaled up to 300 million pieces of wiring devices (switches and sockets), from its current 120 million.
Briefing visiting mediapersons at Varanasi on Friday, Yoshiyuki Kato, MD, PEWIN said that globally the electric works division will be investing Rs 6,250 crore over a period of next seven years. The company will soon decide on the quantum of investments India would be getting out of the proposed investment.
“PEWIN is planning to triple its overall business by FY30 by bolstering its business in four directions, enhancing businesses in electrical devices, project proposals, system and solution proposals and a strategy to make India a hub for global expansion,” he said. In the financial year ending March 2023, the company’s net sales stood at Rs 5,180 crore.
Rajesh Nandwani, director, power business, PEWIN said the company will be making investments to the tune of Rs 300 crore for increasing its capacity at its SriCity factory which will give a boost to its export plans. The company had planned to invest a total of Rs 600 crore on the project and an initial investment of Rs 300 crore has been completed. The Sri City plant was opened last year.
Currently, the company’s exports stood at 2% of the total sales. “ By 2030, the company plans to take the share of exports to 10%. West Asia, Saarc and African countries, including Tanzania and Nigeria, will be in focus and we will be making products according to the local requirements,” he said.
On the wiring devices business expansion, the company officials said that it will strengthen its manufacturing capabilities from 620 million pieces per year to 1,000 million pieces per year by FY30. Apart from SriCity, it has wiring devices manufacturing facilities in places such as Haridwar and Daman.
PEWIN’s lighting business unit will start in-house manufacturing of lighting products in 2023. It will contain Japanese manufacturing technology and quality management know-how.
(Travel for this story was sponsored by Panasonic)