Luminous Power Technologies Pvt. Lmt.
In this article I am going to discuss all about Luminous Power Technologies Private Limited which is known as "Luminous".
Mr. Rakesh Malhotra --- Luminous Founder 1998
The son of a civil servant, Malhotra grew up in Delhi and Punjab, and studied at Delhi Cantonment's Kendriya Vidyalaya for the most part.
'Business' was not something that he inherited. After securing an engineering degree in electronics and telecommunication from Jadavpur University in West Bengal, he joined the Tata group's Nelco in 1983.
When Rakesh Malhotra started to build a business for himself in 1988, he had five years of work experience, all of Rs. 40,000 in savings and an engineering degree.
He later worked with Mitsui and Siemens but by 1988, when Malhotra had turned 26, he had developed a strong urge to turn entrepreneur.
"One wanted to create something but felt limited by the profession's set-up," he says.
Three things worked for him - good timing, luck and dedication.
Along the way, Malhotra's childhood associates Navnit Kapoor and Sunil Bhalla joined him as co-promoters.
Soon came in private equity investors and the financial institutions. CLSA Capital put in some Rs. 83 crore (Rs. 830 million) in 2007, and in four years, Schneider has made an entry.
Brief History of Luminous:
Inverters were very expensive in the early 1980s and cost around Rs 50,000 a unit. So, in between his corporate jobs, Rakesh Malhotra conducted research on power inverters and tried to develop a cheaper version. In 1985, when he felt sure that he was on to a good thing, Malhotra decided to quit his job and set up his own venture, which would manufacture UPS (uninterrupted power supply) or battery-powered back-up systems. However, it wasn't till 1988 that he finally launched a company. That's how Luminous Power Technologies was born. Within 15 months, his inverter, priced at only Rs 15,000 a unit, was ready for marketing. Malhotra managed to offer the low rate because all the parts were procured locally. Today, he supplies products to 34 countries, including China. Back in 2012, the company had a turnover of Rs 1,200 crore.
Over the years, he built a brand called Luminous that first came out with power back-ups for computers and then invertors for homes in 1994.
Now, it is also into other businesses like telecommunication infrastructure, knowledge process outsourcing and renewable energy.
It took a good 18 years for Luminous Power Technologies to make its first Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion), but in the next five years its turnover shot past Rs 1,100 crore (Rs. 11 billion).
Current News About Luminous:
Earlier this week, the $20-billion French engineering major, Schneider Electric, announced the acquisition of a 74 per cent stake in the company, in a deal that values Luminous at around Rs 1,866 crore (Rs. 18.66 billion).
"Some PE investors did carry out due diligence of the company but we wanted a partner with similar values and common areas of technology that can complement our brand and give us a geographical advantage," he says.
Schneider's coming will also bring in best practices.
Though Malhotra, chairman and chief executive officer, says that the company's operations will remain independent, the focus will be to build from where it is today.
"It is a well-structured organisation with a professional workforce. I was on the back seat already," he says.
Retirement, however, is not on the horizon.
"We (promoters) are in our forties and have a lot to do."
Current Plans:
Power and energy storage company Luminous Power Technologies has plans to expand its battery manufacturing capacity by adding two-three assembly lines at its existing plant at Gagret in Himachal Pradesh with an investment of Rs 70-100 crore over the next six months.
“The assembly lines will help in doubling the current manufacturing of batteries across divisions including automotive, motorcycle and four wheeler battery,” Sudhir Kalla, president (sales and marketing), Luminous Power Technologies, told mediapersons here. The UPS market in India is around 10 million units, and growing 20 per cent year-on-year.
“Luminous recorded a turnover of Rs 1,250 crore last year. We expect a 50-60 per cent growth this financial year backed by our proposed assembly lines,” he said. The company's inverter and inverter battery segment contributes 70-75 per cent to its turnover.
The company is going to pilot-launch an initiative ‘Grameen Urja Hut’, based on the village electrical shop concept, at Hajipur in Bihar this month. The hut will be in small size housing all products from Luminous.
“The initiative is aimed at D-class villages in rural areas, covering those where power is partly available and without power connection, basically to make the products available at the doorstep of rural consumer,” he said.
The project will be pilot-launched across 60-70 villages, and depending on the success of the model, the company might expand, he added.
Kalla was here to felicitate the company's top performing channel partners from the southern market.