“Quality, Trust and Commitment have been our core beliefs, values and priorities over the years”
Q.Savitr Solar is primarily a leading brand of solar panel manufacturer, how has the company evolved over since 2011? What are its core beliefs, values and priorities?
Since its establishment in 2011, Sri Savitr Solar Private Limited has been focusing on increasing its market footprint. With the humble beginning of about 10 MW, the company has been growing at an exponential proportion and has increased its capacity in leaps and bounds. Currently with our established capacity of 250 MW, we are able to cater to both domestic as well as international markets for their demand of solar panels (Mono as well as Poly) from 3 wp to 350 Wp.
Speaking of the company’s evolution, after we have established a foot hold in the panel market, since the year 2016, we have been aggressively pursuing EPC projects and have built a portfolio of about 10 MW till now and are constantly pursuing to increase the same in the coming years.
Quality, Trust and Commitment have been our core beliefs, values and priorities over the years. The firm belief that unless we give a quality product, we will not be able to gain the trust of the market is etched very much in the organizational objectives and it is followed to the T.
Q.In addition to solar panels what are the other products and solutions that Savitr Solar offers?
As I mentioned earlier, though the primary business of Sri Savitr Solar is the manufacture of solar panels, since the last couple of years we have ventured into EPC and are steadying that vertical as well. Apart from that we are also into provision of Street Lights, Water Pumping solutions, Water Heating Solutions and are willing to work with anyone with specific solar needs.
Among products we have supported our customers in designing and producing panels for their specific small appliance requirements.
Solar Kits have been something that we have been doing since 2017. Through this vertical, we are able to offer off-Grid and On-Grid Solar power packs ranging from 1 Kwp to 8 Kwp ( and other ranges if needed) to cater to the growing market for these products.
Q.From the range of products and services that you offer, what are the products and services that are contributing to the current and the future growth of the company?
From what is seen as of now, the future seems to be in EPC and in the Solar power packs. With the boost that the government/s is providing towards solarization of the energy requirements, we think that this provides a good opportunity to penetrate further into the markets. This would be in turn pushing the requirements for solar panels and hopefully the trend would be upward.
Q.Tell us more about Savitr Solar’s manufacturing facility? Current installed capacity and future growth plans?
As I mentioned earlier, we have an installed capacity of 250 MW. It has been a progressive growth in capacity over the years and we have been trying to balance investment to market trends.
Among the grand plan of things, there is a plan to extend our existing capacity by another 80-100% by the end of 2019. Come 2020, we intend to set up another 150 MW plant in Andhra Pradesh, the negotiations of which are underway as we speak.
Q.How does Savitr Solar keep pace with the evolving market demands in terms of new products and technology?
In the volatile solar market, it has become very important that every player keeps pace with the changes in the products and technology. We at Savitr Solar are doing the same. Our In house R&D team is continuously engaged in looking at product improvements, exploring new components, testing new ideas and ensuring that what we produce is market relevant.
Right now among others, we are looking at perfecting our brand of glass-on-glass panels as a good majority of our customers have requested us to foray into that space to meet their requirements.
Q.Your views on the, current state of solar manufacturing industry in India, the steps taken by the government to promote the industry and make it competitive? What more needs to be done?
While we certainly appreciate the efforts that the Government of India is doing towards increasing the quantum of solar power in India, there certainly is a lot that could probably done further to help the manufacturers.
Providing incentives, tax relief, enhanced export benefits are some of the ideas that could probably help in this direction. Indian exporters are not getting as much of incentive compared to the competition, which places us at a disadvantage in trying to spread the wings of Indian industry on the global front.
Q.What according to you were the reasons for lukewarm response to manufacturing-linked tenders in India? Your views on the safeguard duties on modules and EVA sheets?
Well it is pretty obvious as to why the response is lukewarm isn’t it. Maybe it is because it is not encouraging the industry to the extent expected. That is because though the prices have gone up by 25% because of the SGD, there has not been a proportionate increase in the selling price. Also our global competitors are still trying to ship in their products and seem to be able to absorb the impact of SGD as well. Thus the very purpose of imposing the SGD does not seem to be achieved.
Secondly, the duty should be on the panels alone and not on the panels and cells. This is because there is not enough quality manufacturing facilities within India to meet the cell requirements of all the manufacturers. But having the HSN code common to both the products it has become inevitable that what impacts one impacts the other as well.
If there is some way that this issue can be resolved that would be great news for the industry as well as the customers.
Q.What differentiates Savitr solar from its competitors? What is your strategy in regards to offering best value to customer for the price, compared to similar offerings from competitors?
As I had earlier mentioned, we are not a fly by night company. We are here to stay and in order to stay we need to prove that we are dependable and provide a good quality product. Hence we offer our customers a product that makes them ask for more.
We always mention to our customers that we may not be the most economical in the market, but the quality that they get for our product would make them convinced that they put their money in the right direction.
Q.How would you define success for Savitr Solar and what do you want the company to accomplish in the next couple of years?
Our success is not defined just by what we have done or what we do but about what our customers do and achieve. Our philosophy of grow and let grow has in the past helped us gain the confidence of our customers and the market and we would like to continue going by that norm going forward as well.
