Polycab India Ltd is planning to start manufacturing EHV cables and other specialty cables, with a view to enlarging its product basket and consolidating its leadership in the wire & cable market.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai to launch the company’s new corporate identity, Inder T. Jaisinghani, Chairman & Managing Director, Polycab India Ltd, said that the company’s foray in the manufacturing of extra high voltage (EHV) cables was also in line with Polycab India’s plans of making specialized wires, including those varieties that are currently imported.
On the EHV cables front, Jaisinghani said that the company would locally make EHV cables right from 220kV rating up to 750kV. The will be no technical collaborator and the technology would be sourced from cable-making machinery manufacturers, he explained.
It may be recalled that around 2010, Polycab had begun negotiations for a joint venture with French cable giant Nexans for manufacturing EHV cables in India. However, the JV did not really take off.
Inder Jaisinghani maintained confidence that the market for EHV cables would grow in the coming years, as several power utilities are converting overhead HV and EHV transmission lines into underground corridors with EHV cables. The Polycab India top official also said that the market for EHV cables would also get a boost from offshore wind farms that would need EHV submarine cables. Incidentally, Polycab India is also planning a foray in submarine cables especially for shallow-water applications.
Import-substitute products
It is not very widely known that Polycab India has even supplied special cables to Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier “INS Vikrant” that was commissioned by Cochin Shipyard Ltd in 2013. In supplying such specialty cables, Polycab did well to forestall their imports. Inspired by this development, Polycab India has now planned to make a series of specialty import-substitute cables for applications in railways, aircraft, submarined and the defence sector. “In the next 2-3 years, we will make import-substitute cables for diverse applications,” Jaisinghani asserted.
While making import-substitute products, Polycab will be highly conscious of minimizing imports of raw material. “We will go for “Make in India” except for some raw material that still needs to be imported,” the Polycab India CMD said.
Currently, the wire & cable segment accounts for 85 per cent of Polycab India’s sales turnover, with the remaining coming from the FMEG (fast-moving electrical goods) category. In terms of raw material sourcing, Polycab India’s import dependence is less than 3 per cent.
India’s safest wire
According to Nilesh Jaisinghani, Executive Director, Polycab India, the company would soon be launching what would be India’s safest wire. This is being made possible thanks to extensive research & development on the polymer front. The Polycab portfolio already has “Polycab Green” that is known for its high efficiency and safety. If it catches fire, this wire emits white smoke and which is less obnoxious with respect to carcinogenic emissions. Conventional wires, even if they are fire-retardant ones, emit thick toxic black smoke that could cause fatalities in accidents caused by electrical fires, Nilesh Jaisinghani explained.
Less material but no compromise
While discussing evolving technology trends in the wire & cable industry over the past four decades or so, Inder Jaisinghani made some interesting observations about use of raw material and product efficiency. To illustrate the point, the Polycab India CMD said that if the impurity of copper increases even by 0.5 per cent, the efficiency of the wire can worsen by as much as 30 per cent. In other words, wires of inferior quality (made with low-purity copper) can ultimately result in higher electricity consumption.
Jaisinghani emphasized that over the years Polycab India has deployed advanced polymer technology for insulation and high purity of copper for the conductor. As a combination, this has contributed immensely to the efficiency and safety of wires.
Jaisinghani even suggested that a wire, which is made with high-quality material, can outperform an inferior wire, even if the high-quality wire has a relatively low cross-sectional conductor area. For a country like India that is significantly import-dependent with respect to copper, a manufacturing process that limits the use of copper in wires & cables, can ultimately make a positive contribution to the nation’s fiscal health.
Polycab India is therefore sharply focused on intensive research that will enable reducing the quantity of conducting material, which will be achieved by using of copper with highest purity. In conjunction with use of advanced polymers, such wires & cables will see less consumption of raw material, and with absolutely no compromise on efficiency or safety, Inder Jaisinghani stressed.
Also read: New Brand Identity For Polycab India: “Ideas. Connected.”
Featured photograph (source: Polycab India) shows a wire & manufacturing facility of Polycab India Ltd.
