Interview with Mr. Rakesh Rajput, VP Havells India Limited
Havells India Limited is a leading Fast Moving Electrical Goods (FMEG) Company and a major power distribution equipment manufacturer with a strong global presence. Havells enjoys enviable market dominance across a wide spectrum of products, including Industrial & Domestic Circuit Protection Devices, Cables & Wires, Motors, Fans, Modular Switches, Home Appliances, Air Conditioners, Electric Water Heaters, Power Capacitors, Luminaires for Domestic, Commercial and Industrial Applications. What are the various Eco-friendly products your company has launched and what are their salient features? Sustainability, at Havells, is not just a business mandate but a way of life. Our sustainability framework is woven across a tapestry of environmental and social efforts that blend to deliver inclusive progress. At Havells “Sustainability” means striking the appropriate balance between our environmental responsibilities, financial performance, and social commitments. We believe sustainability to be not just a goal but a business approach that underlines the systems and processes across our entire value chain – from raw material to manufacturing to supply chain management. Most of the materials used in our major verticals are under the category of recyclable/reused and most of our materials are RoHS, REACH compliant. We are continuously working on minimizing the burden on landfill and incineration sites. To share Havells India Ltd is a leading FMEG company (Fast moving electrical goods) with presence across India. In fact All our major Product as Industrial & Domestic Circuit Protection Switchgear, Cables& Wires, Motors, Fans, Power Capacitors, Luminaires for Domestic, Commercial & Industrial applications, Modular Switches, Water Heaters and Domestic Appliances not only use Eco friendly Raw material but are environmentally Sensitive. Our Special Caring for environment is reflected in our Wire range. HF-R(Heat Resistant Flame retardant) not only ensures to bear extra temperature but also non Toxic and smokeless emission. As a step towards our environment conscious endeavor our Wires, Cables, Flagship Range Crabtree are all ROHS Compliant. You will appreciate very few company can have this impressive credibility and capability. HAVELLS has introduced all kind of flexible cables with S3 features. These are unique as being completely safe during hand handling with unique feature of High insulation resistance thus offer reduced leakage current. Our Light Fitting range is Complete LED.In our continuous effort to be a Eco Friendly Company we have stopped Producing any other source of Lighting be it CFL or else. Are the Eco-friendly cables manufactured using recyclable products? Yes insulation used is completely recyclable. There are seven major types of materials used in coated wire and cable. (1) resins (thermoplastic and thermoset compounds) for insulation and jacketing; (2) plasticizers to make the plastic flexible and easy to process (and impart other qualities such as impact resistance and abrasion resistance); (3) stabilizers to provide heat resistance during manufacturing as well as visible light, UVrays and heat resistance during product use; (4) flame retardants to slow the spread of an accidental fire and reduce the amount of heat and smoke released; (5) fillers to reduce formulation costs and improve insulation resistance; (6) lubricants to improve the ease of processing; and (7) colorants to give the desired color, which is crucial for identification purposes. The major discussion is however PVC-free wire and cable andthe increasing adoption of low- or zero-halogen PE resins in jacketing. A second development is the switch from PVC-nylon insulation to moisture-cured XLPE.We have identified the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a key focus area for enabling sustainable progress across the social and environmental indices. Our strategic goals are driven by the need to strike a balance between exclusive profits and inclusive progress. In order to achieve this, we are continuously exploring and innovating measures for effective and optimal resource management. At the same time, we have aligned many of our social and environmental goals to the SDGs, particularly in the field of sanitation and hunger, as well as climate change and clean energy. In Fact we have gone a step further in packaging Material Sustainability as Key performance indicator OurKPI 1 is Material sustainability Target: Increase in usage of Sustainable material (bio-degradable or recyclable or recycled or material from renewable sources) by 15% Target year: 2020-21 and Our KPI 2 Carbon footprint Target: Reduce inwards logistics/travel distance for packaging material in to our IH plants by 25% Target year:2020-21. Is the process of manufacturing these cables also environmentally conscious? We follow a precautionary approach to design practices in order to minimize the risks and impact of our business operations on the environment. Further, we have implemented Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) management systems in our plants to address issues related to these subjects. We get our EHS management system audits conducted on a regular basis by third party certification agencies. Many of our facilities are ISO 9001;ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified. ,Also in addition our plants are covered by ISO 50001 standard . Our initiatives on clean technology, energy efficiency, and renewable energy are covered in the environment section of this sustainability report. Any emissions or waste generated within our business is within the permissible limits set by CPCB/SPCB. Environment Impact of Products and Services and use of Innovating products that are resource efficient in their use is our prime focus.Input .Increase share of recycled and alternative materials as input in our production process, reduce and reuse waste, improve material management process for greater resource efficiency is our continuous focus and monitored continuously. We are dedicated to reducing dependency on virgin materials and are also working towards phasing out hazardous materials. One of the major factor driving our sustainable growth agenda is our stringent adherence to the principles of trust and transparency, which are built in to our corporate governance framework. We have in place a cohesive Code of Conduct, which we have integrated into every function of our business. We have also extended the values of this Code to all our vendors and suppliers, with whom we sign the Code to ensure statutory compliance with applicable laws of Environment Health & Safety Act.The Code is also imbibed in our Vendor Qualification, Development, and Evaluation requirements. How is the functioning of the green products as compared to the regular products? Functioning is not only safe but reliable.For example we believe Solar power as a renewal energy has grown up significantly in the past few years. Efficiency optimization in electric network would be of prime requirement and needless to say that cables are life line in solar electric network for interconnection of various P.V modules. Since these cables have to operate under toughest and extreme condition of weather and atmospheric exposure hence development of special polymer is of prime concern now days for this purpose. Crosslinked Polyolefin (XLPO) as an insulation is developed and preferred polymer now a days for photo-voltaic application in wire and cable segment. These cables can perform under extreme condition of installation and toughest weather conditions. Compliance of cable for UV Resistant according to HD 605/A1 reasonably demonstrates withstand capacity of cable for long term exposure to sunlight There are also many other features such as highest resistance against environment like U.V., ozone and humidity, suitability of cables under extreme temperature from (-) 40 C to 120 C, suitability in toughest weather conditions. PV cables can perform efficiently and safely for years to come. Is there a huge price difference between Eco-friendly products and regular products?What is the market size of eco cables and wires and what is the potential growth? Price difference is Nominal but however offset with the advantages. We should however not discount the fact that this works on the demand and supply and the gap is narrowing down. However with Environmental, health and safety concern changing trends in use of the basic raw materials mindset difference in being witnessed in the Industry. The industry which has been growing at the rate of around 15 per cent currently will start growing at the CAGR of over 20 per cent over the next five years. The wires and cables industry in India has come a long way, growing from being a small industry to a very large one, over the past decade. The increasing demand for power, light and communication has kept demand high for wire and cable. This trend will continue as demand for reliable, efficient energy and data communications will strengthen the wires and cables industry in the future as well. In India, the size of the cable manufacturing industry is approximately Rs40,000 crores. The growth in renewable power generation would be one of the primary factors for the growth of the electric cable and wire market. Rural electrification is another major factor which is expected to propel the growth of the electric wire and cable market in the country.
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