Havells

Establishment and early history

In 1958 Qimat Rai Gupta dropped out of school and founded an Electric trading operation in the electric wholesale market of Old Delhi. With an investment of Rs.10000, he started Havell's Industries. In 1971 Gupta Bought HAVELLS Brand from Haveli Ram Gandhi, and in next five years he started the first manufacturing Plant at Tilak Nagar, New Delhi of the Rewireable Switches and Changeover Switches in his Kirti Nagar Plant, near New Delhi. In next few years Havells started to Set up a manufacturing of the Energy Meters. later, it Acquired Towers and Transformers Ltd. and turned it into a profitably manufacturing Energy Meters Company in just one year. Later, the Company entered MCBs manufacturing at Badli, Delhi in a Joint Venture with Geyer, Germany. In 1974 company started manufacturing of the Changeover Switches plant at Sahibabad, UP for. In 1980 they started manufacturing Control Gear Products at their Faridabad, Haryana plants. Later in 80's they Acquired a manufacturing plant at Alwar, Rajasthan for Power Cables & Wires.In that same year they Entered into a Joint Venture with Electrium, UK for manufacturing Dorman Smith MCCB and Crabtree Modular Plate Switches. Acquired an Electric Control & Switchboards at Noida for manufacturing customised packaged solutions. Introduced high-end Ferraris Meters in Joint Venture with DZG, Germany. Acquired controlling stake in Duke Arnics Electronics (P) Limited engaged in manufacturing of Electronic Meters-Single Phase, Three Phase, Multi Function, Tri-Vectors and also acquired controlling interest in an industry major-Standard Electricals Ltd and also an Acquired business of Havells Industries Ltd, MCCB of Crabtree India Limited and merged ECS Limited in the company to consolidate its area of core competence.

Global presence

In late 90's Standard Electrical Company became a 100% Subsidiary of the company. The company gained IEC certification for industrial switchgear and CSA certification for all manufacturing plants in 1991. Soon production started in their plant located at Baddi (H.P.) for manufacturing domestic switchgear. Setting up a manufacturing plant for manufacturing of ceiling fans at Noida, UP. In 1999 Havell's opened their first international sales office in London through their wholly owned subsidiary company Havells U.K. Ltd. In December 2004, placed 235 fully convertible debentures of Rs.1 million on M/s. Shine Ltd., Mauritius and the debenture were converted in June 2006 Attained the CE certificate for CFLs. In March,2005 Havells Started the manufacturing of the Electric Fans at its plant located near Haridwar, Uttarakhand and got an Award for the KEMA certification by The Dutch Council for Accreditation, making QRG the only group to attain this certification in India. The company started their first R&D Center in Noida. In November, 2005 Crabtree India merged with Havells India. adding a CFL production unit in Haridwar manufacturing plant. Expansion at Alwar manufacturing plant for increase of production capacity and another expansion at the Baddi manufacturing plant and set-up of an Export Oriented Unit started in that same year. In 2006 it became one of the India's first Company to get the ISI mark Certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards for complete range of CFLs.The company is setting up new fully automatic water heater manufacturing plant in Neemrana, Rajasthan under the leadership of Mr, Sunil Sikka, Mr. Akhilesh Mittal and team. Currently CEO of Havells is Anil Rai Gupta.

Expansion era

In 2007 Havells' creation of a capacitor manufacturing plant in Noida, UP with the capacity of 6,00,000 KVAr per month was completed. Later it acquired the lighting business of a Frankfurt based company Sylvania, a global leader in the lighting business and now for the first time in its history the company's turnover exceeded US$1 billion. By 2007 Havell's were well known for its electrical switches, energy meters and miniature circuit breakers (MCBs). In March 2007, Havells acquired SLI Sylvania of Netherlands for $300 million, making it the fourth largest lighting business in the world, worth over a billion USD This was, at that time, the biggest overseas takeover by an Indian electrical equipment manufacturer. This takeover helped to give the Havells brand access to over 20,000 dealers across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The combined Havells-Sylvania generated over a $1 billion in revenue with more than 60% coming from international sales. Due to past mergers Havells’ portfolio includes many well-known brands like the Crabtree, Sylvania, Concord, Luminance, Linolite & SLI Lighting. In 2008 it became one of the first Indian CFL manufacturers to have adopted RoHS, European norms on restriction of hazardous substances in CFLs. In October 2008 Havell's moved to its new corporate headquarters, QRG Towers located at Expressway Noida. With an investment of Rs.500 million in Global Center for Research and Innovation (CRI) construction of a fully automatic plant for Havells Lafert Motors at Neemrana also started in that same year. In, 2010 it acquired 100% interest in Standard Electricals to set up the world's first new generation CMH lamp plant at Neemrana. In 2012, Indian actor Rajesh Khanna endorsed Havells Fan TVC titled Havells Fans Forever. Later in that same year Havells India expressed its plans to expand its presence in Turkey, Russia, Indonesia and Malaysia and is in the process of acquiring various companies in China and Africa.

In September 2013 Havells have launched the domestic pumps for Indian market. Initially company plans to launch the monoblock pumps and expand the product range gradually. Monoblock pumps of Havells are being manufactured at Neemrana Motor factory utilising the production capacity of the unit.

Sylvania Divestment

In December 2015, Havells India Ltd. sold 80% stake in Sylvania Malta, and Havells Exim Hong Kong to Shanghai Feilo Acoustics for Rs 1,100 crore. Havells had invested Rs 980 crore in both the subsidiaries.

Products

Stock market

Market Capital of Havells is 15,000 Crores (as on 6th Nov, 2015). The shares of Havells are listed in Bombay Stock Exchange in 'A' category and is included in S&P BSE 200 Group. Promoters holds 61% stake in the company followed by 23% FIIs. During 2011-14, the stock gave more than 300% Return following its exceptional growth. Havells major peers includes Crompton Greaves and Techno Electric.

Marketing

The company has promoted its brand through sponsorship of cricket events like Champions Trophy, Champions League, IPL Season 2, IPL Season1, T20 World Cup . The company also reaches consumers directly, through "Havells Galaxy" – a one stop shop for all electrical and lighting needs. Havells announced the opening of its first display & learning center 'Havells World' in the country on 29 March 2010, New Delhi. Havells World is targeted at the retailer community, involved in retailing the Havells electrical and lighting products. The Company aims to accelerate its growth with this initiative and plans to open 10 such stores in the country. It will serve as the reference location for all the retailers to get a comprehensive overview of the entire range of the Havells’ products.

Acquisitions

Havells had a track record of five successful acquisitions, and high growth in its Indian operations. In 1983, it bought the loss-making Delhi-based Towers and Transformers Ltd and turned it around in a year. Between 1997 and 2001, Havells also bought ECS, Duke Arnics Electronics, Standard Electricals and Crabtree India. The last was a 50:50 joint venture between Havells and the UK-based Crabtree, and Havells later acquired Crabtree's stake in the JV.

Social initiatives

Havells provides mid day meal for school children in Alwar district, covering 50,000 students per day. This has greatly increased the number of children attending school regularly and also alleviates hunger. Besides this the company has acquired land for constructing a larger kitchen with all the modern facilities to serve freshly cooked food to 50000 students in the area. In the past, the company has also contributed to the society during various national calamities like the Bihar Flood, Tsunami and Kargil National Relief Fund.. The group company, QRG Healthcare runs a 140 bed hospital in Faridabad and will soon launch another 450 bed hospital in Faridabad by end of the year. In the past, the company has generously contributed to the society during various national calamities like the Bihar Flood, Tsunami and Kargil National Relief Fund etc. Havells runs a mobile Medical Van, equipped with a trained doctor and necessary medicines in the rural areas of Delhi & NCR for the very poor and needy villagers. The company also set up free medical check-up camps.