RR KABEL : Leading the way to success

Q. RR KABEL has gained credible brand recall among the electrical cables space during last few years, please brief us about the company’s journey from the inception & share some of the milestones achieved by the company?
It’s indeed been a great journey since our inception in 1965 when we had started off from a small electrical trading shop. Keeping in mind the increasing need of the Indian consumer towards safer electrical products our company – Ram Ratna Group started RR Kabel in the year 1998. We have always strived towards delivering world class quality products to our clients both national as well as international and this has paid us good results. Our journey has been tough filled with challenges which we try to overcome at every point of time by delivering best to our consumers.

The various achievements in the wire and cable segment has helped us obtain number of Indian and international certifications for our products. These include the VDE approval from Germany, BASEC from UK, UL from USA, besides obtaining ISOs. I can proudly claim that we are the only Indian company to have the maximum number of approvals for the products.

Q. Please brief us more about RamRatna Group’s infrastructure?
Ram Ratna Group is over USD 500 million conglomerate which operates in three verticals – electricals, infrastructure and chemicals. In the chemicals sector we are majorly into exports. The electrical segment has various products – RR Kabel for cables, RR Shramik for winding wires, RR Copper for copper tapes, bus bar systems, RR Micro for the panel accessories and RR Eubiq for the power outlet system.

We have newer ranges of products to be offered which are all focused on the power sector. In the infrastructure segment, however, we are offering car parking solutions. We are the first company in the country to get technology for introducing multi-level car parking solutions which we have named as RR Parkon. The largest car park is being designed in New Delhi which is also called as puzzle parking. All our sectors are growing very well. We believe in innovation and hence always strive to get the best technology to our country and then work towards further improving it.

Q. The ensuing electrical boom calls for massive investment in electrical products manufacturing and the component industry, according to you what are the prospects for cable products in India? How do you plan to position your products?
The current scenario is not as good as it would take another couple of years for the economy to come out of this vicious cycle of recession. Observing these trends, the industry has witnessed constant increase in demand for good quality wires and cables. Barely 20 per cent of our population have all the benefits and facilities required and these days there is increased awareness amongst consumers for upgrading their products.

Not only this, but a study concluded by IEEMA states that the Indian electrical equipment industry has grown by over 14 per cent in the last year. This is despite strong competition from Chinese and Korean companies flooding the Indian markets with their products.

Being a key player in the electrical sector we have always tried to offer tailor made solutions to suit the needs of our diversified customer base. We believe that with technology and skills available with us we must be in a position to exhibit our strengths and offer the right product mix to the people from the power sector. Currently there are three other major players in this sector -Polycare, Finolex Cables Ltd and Haver Inc. As far as positioning our product in the market is concerned we follow the old route of marketing the product like any other company would do. Since the last couple of years we have also been following the brand building exercise as we strive to take our product from class to mass. In short we believe in transition from class to masses as mass cannot become class.

Q. Could you brief us about your topline product range? What are value added services you provide to your customers?
As mentioned earlier, Ram Ratna Group is into the electrical and infrastructure segments. Our topline products vary in each range FIREX in RR Kabel, oxygen free copper tapes and bars in RR Copper, safe, flexible and smart power outlet system from RR Eubiq.

Besides we offer fire alarm wires, instrumentation cables, armoured cables, etc. At all times we ensure that our product delivers both cost and operational efficiencies to our clients. In terms of value addition we contribute by customizing the needs of the clients and ensure superior delivery parameters.

Q. Kindly brief us more about RR PARKON parking systems that were introduced earlier, how this segment is shaping up & let us know some success stories of these systems in India?
RR Parkon, one of our emerging divisions, is an advanced multi-level car parking system which we had visualised nearly more than a decade ago as it is an innovative car parking solution. The big cities are expanding its borders and a huge influx of cars is making parking a premium commodity of today.

With easy availability of car loans and increase in disposable income with the middle class consumer, lower car prices there is an annual growth rate of more than 8 per cent in the number of cars on roads across the major cities in the country. RR Parkon is a solution aimed at resolving these parking woes in congested cities by maximising parking capacity by utilising vertical spaces rather than expanding horizontally. We aim at reducing energy consumption by maximising parking in open spaces.

It is important to note that the number of hours a vehicle is parked is more than the number of hours it actually moves. It is believed that if a vehicle moves for 5 per cent of the time, nearly for the rest 95 per cent of the time it is parked. Hence the problem in the growing cities is not about the moving cars but the stationary ones. Many a times, due to inadequate parking space cars have to be parked outside offices thus blocking the access to the building. A multi-storey car parking is a structure designed where there are floors or levels where parking takes place.

This technology uses pallets and lifts for parking and retrieving cars thus removing the need for lengthy drive ways and ramps which helps in accommodating maximum cars in minimum space. It’s a flexible solution which can be situated either above or below the ground or even a combination of both can be designed to accommodate the number of cars. Since it can be pre-fabricated it can be easily assembled on site with lesser construction costs. Also the system is operated automatically and hence the added expenses of providing lighting, security, underground parking, etc can be done away with.

The multi-level car parking system requires less energy to operate as there is no need for energy intensive ventilating system as a result it is low on maintenance and operational costs. It provides safety to the vehicles parked as the cars cannot be accessible by anyone else as a result the chances of damage or dent to the car is avoided. It also can prove to be environmentally friendly as the saving of ground space can be put to good use by having gardens and landscaping.

It comes as a great convenience to the driver as well as now he would not be required to drive through the entire parking lot looking for place to park nor does he have to attend to the car when it is parked. It also eliminates the difficulty of parking in tight corners.

Q. What are your future plans to maintain substantial market positioning in electrical cable space?
Our future plan is to grow, grow and only grow. We are continuously in the process of expanding our product basket as we want our clients to get the maximum value for money while offering innovative product range to our clients. Since we have both national and international approvals to ensure global level of safety we have embarked on increasing the availability for our products with wider distribution network.

At the same time the Indian electrical sector is a highly competitive market with many companies offering virtually the same product. Here it becomes utmost important to position our product as the leader by offering innovative products as well as providing consumers with highest quality o after sale services. We are indeed proud to be the first manufacturers of cables in India to attain ROHS compliance in 2009.

Q. What is your quality policy for the business?
Since we are a customer focused company we concentrate more on innovation in the product development which thus is our main policy. We also thoroughly believe in empowering people, building self sustaining processes and enabling transparent business practices to strive value added services to the end user.

Q. As per your opinion what is the role of research & development in product performance? How do you score R&D in your company against all other functional heads?
Research and development has always been one of the key parameters of our success. We as a group have been constantly investing in various R&D projects which have helped us to open new avenues and attain innovative engineering capabilities.

Today’s consumers have become more and more quality conscious about standards and hence look out for value for money. Even in the wires and cables sector manufacturers are spending on up gradation of their products by way of R&D. R&D is a function driven by top management and we work closely with the marketing team to analyse the existing trends to ensure that right investment is made at the right time. Our goal is to provide highly efficient electrical solutions which are cent per cent reliable and our rigorous R&D has enabled us to achieve it.

Q. The recent meltdown of the economy has affected many industries, what is the current scenario of electrical cable industry?
The current market scenario is very bad for the electrical, cable and other allied industries. The electrical cable industry has faced the impact of the recent meltdown. In the recent past in this sector purchases have been majorly impacted but there is a slight hope as with slow stabilisation of the economy this temporary phase might fade out as the market is gradually limping back to normalcy.

Q. What are the future opportunities for electrical cable industry?
The electrical cable industry has great future opportunities as there is ample scope for development in growing economies. With newer initiatives declared by the government in the power sector, it is estimated that the dependence on the electrical industry will increase. This would increase the demand for investment in the electrical sector.

Also there is large scale redevelopment likely to happen in these major cities with changing lifestyles of the people. With more and more development there will be more and more demand for both electrical and electronic products.

Q. As per your opinion, what are the technology transformations in electrical cable manufacturing industry over the years?
There hasn’t been any major technological transformation in the electrical cable manufacturing industry. The only change has been effective in the insulation part of the wire where earlier wires were made from rubber insulation and aluminium was used for household wiring. But with continuous upgradationgood quality wires are being used in the domestic as well as commercial wiring purposes. With the recent awareness more and more consumers are opting for halogen over PVC.

Q. What are the distinguishing factors in comparison of Indian against the global electrical cable industry?
Indian companies are as competent as the global counterparts. Companies dealing with low voltage equipments are quite capable and the medium voltage companies are also becoming capable. However, the high tension equipments are more or less technology driven and hence it is dependent on the companies with whom joint ventures are signed.

The global cable industry is differentiated in terms of scale of operations. Earlier the Indian companies were confined to only domestic consumption which used to be lower than the production base. However, now the domestic demand is growing which needs to be supported by higher manufacturing capacities.

Q. Please comment on how can the Indian electrical cable industry become globally competitive?
The Indian electrical cable industry can become globally competitive provided the market adopts to change its age-old practices. These include sourcing of raw materials, adherence to basic IS standards and changes in the taxation policies to become competitive in the market. First and foremost the interest rates must come down and the multiple taxes must be eliminated. Today despite manpower being less expensive, manufacturers are compelled to pay heavy duties by way of multiple taxes. GST must be the only tax levied.

Q. What factors impart the success of your company?
As a group we have always believed in making life simple for the modern living. Innovation, trust and transparency are the three major pillars of growth which is the success of our company. Our strong foresight, vision for growth and collective efforts have enabled us transform a small trading house into a global entity. We don’t just sell products but we believe in demand generation make relations and thus do business.

Q. What is your vision for RR KABEL for coming years?
We want to be seen as an organisation that ranks among the top three globally for wires and cables. Our vision is to create, build and sustain a harmonious and forward looking organisation which is not only inspiring, strong and innovative but also an organisation which gives back and cares. As a respectable company I personally feel that RR stands for Respected Relation and Reliable Resources.