Heavy and Light Electrical Equipment Industry in India

 

Heavy and Light Electrical Equipment Industry in India

Heavy and Light Electrical Equipment Industry in India!

Electricity is an integral part of modern life. The increase in generation, distribution and utilisation of electricity has resulted in increased demand for electrical machinery and equipment in the recent past. Consequently, this industry has made rapid strides during the last two-three decades. This industry is divided into two components viz. i) heavy electrical equipment industry and (ii) light electrical goods industry.

Industry

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Heavy Electrical Equipment Industry:

Heavy electrical industry comprises equipment used for the generation, transmission, distribution and utilisation of power. It includes items such as generators, boilers, turbines, transformers, switchgears, etc. The indigenous industry is equipped to meet the entire domestic requirement.

The entire industry has been delicensed under the New Industrial Policy of the Government of India. Also under the New Policy, these items qualify for automatic approval as regards to foreign collaborations. Heavy electrical equipment is mainly manufactured by the government owned factories which have been set up with foreign financial assistance and technical skill.

This industry took its birth in 1956 when Heavy Electricals (India) Ltd. was set up at Bhopal with British help. It started production in 1960. Another company known as the Bharat Heavy Electricals was formed in 1964. The two organisations have since been merged to form Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL).

BHEL is an important milestone in the development of heavy electrical equipment industry. In about four decades since its inception, BHEL has taken the country from a position of total dependence on imports to self reliance in power plant design, manufacture, installation and servicing.

The sets manufactured and supplied by BHEL now account for 53,510 MW or 65.3 per cent of the countries installed power generation capacity. With an annual production capacity of 4,000 MW, BHEL ranks among the most important power equipment manufacturers in the world.

To meet the demand for rapid growth in power generation, BHEL has steadily introduced higher capacity boilers—right upto 500 MW unit sizes. BHEL boilers and auxiliaries have also been exported to Libya, Malayasia and Egypt and boiler assemblies to China and the U.S.A. It has six units located at Bhopal, Tiruchchirapalli, Ramchandrapuram (Hyderabad), Jammu, Bangalore and Haridwar.

The Bhopal unit produces heavy electrical equipment required for the generation, transmission and distribution of power. These include hydraulic and steam turbines, generators and motors and traction equipment. The plant at Tiruchchirapalli in Tamil Nadu produces high pressure boilers.

The Ramchandrapuram unit (Hyderabad) in Andhra Pradesh has heavy power equipment plant which has a capacity to manufacture 800 MW of steam turbines and turbo-alternatives per annum. It also produces air blast circuit breakers and minimum oil circuit breakers. The Haridwar Unit produces steam turbines. Some items of heavy electrical industry are produced at Jammu and Bangalore.

Power Transformers:

There are 33 units in the organised sector manufacturing power and distribution transformers. Transformers of 100 KVA capacities are mainly produced by small scale units. Most of the production comes from Mumbai, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam, Kolkata and Sonipat.

The production increased rapidly from 0.2 million KVA in 1950-51 to 36.6 million KVA in 1990-91. Thereafter the progress slowed down but picked up again in 2000-01. In 2003-04, the production was 62.7 million KVA as compared to 74.4 million KVA in 2002-03.

Electric Motors:

India produces a wide range of electric motors to meet the requirements of industries, tube wells, pumping sets and electric traction. Heavy motors are manufactured by government factories while small motors are made by private factories. Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Patiala, Delhi, Coimbatore, etc. are the main centres of motor manufacturing. Production has increased from 0.1 million H.P. in 1950-51 to 8.7 million H.P. in 2003-04.

Cables and Wires:

Telephone cables, winding wires and bare copper and aluminium conductors are manufactured to meet requirements in different fields. Capacity for manufacturing optical fibre cables (OFC) has been created in India. Hindustan Cables, a Government of India undertaking and the Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation have been permitted to establish capacities for manufacture of OFC to the extent of 40,000 and 20,000 fibre km per annum respectively.

Production has shown declining trend in the 1990s. It has fallen from 59.7 thousand tonnes in 1990-91 to 27.2 thousand tonnes in 1993-94. The Indian cable market structure is fragmented with around 2,000 manufacturers. Small producers are dominating some segments of the market. The Indian market is now of the size of Rs.7, 000 crore.

Lifts and Escalators:

At present, eight units are producing lifts and escalators. The current installed capacity of these units is 3,000 numbers per annum. A new range of lifts known as Sky Climbers has been manufactured indigenously. These lifts are used for maintenance of thermal power station boilers/bridges, etc. and are being produced for the first time in the country.

Light Electrical Goods Industry:

This industry covers a wide range of products which include white goods (refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, etc), household electric appliances, electric fans, storage batteries, dry cells, wiring accessories, fittings, electric lamps, etc.

Electric Fans:

India is one of the foremost producers of electric fans in the world. A complete range of electric fans such as ceiling fans, table fans, pedestal fans, exhaust fans, cooler fans, railway carriage fans, cabin fans and air circulators are being produced in different parts of the country.

Mumbai, Kolkata, Secunderabad, Chennai, Delhi, etc. are the leading centres for production of electric fans. There has been 32 times increase in the production of fans from 0.2 million hp in 1950-51 to 6.4 hp million in 2003-04.

Electric Lamps:

This industry was established in 1932 and has made tremendous progress, especially after Independence. The range of electric lamps includes mercury vapour lamps, automobile lamps, photoflash lamps, miniature lamps for torches and fluorescent tubes.

The production of electric lamps has increased considerably from a mere 15 million in 1950-51 to 198.1 million in 1980-81 and 975.4 million in 2003-04. There is an urgent need for energy conservation which has encouraged the need for manufacture of energy efficient electric lamps. The industry is receiving adequate encouragement from the Government. A number of foreign collaborations have already been approved for manufacture of energy efficient lamps.

Dry and Storage Batteries:

Established in 1926, this industry flourished well after the Second World War. Almost all types of dry and storage batteries are produced in the country. Storage batteries are required for automobile industry, train lighting, posts and telegraphs apparatus, power houses and for traction. New units are coming up and the process of upgradation of technology in this industry is continuously benefitting the producer and customer alike.

Radio Receivers:

This industry made a beginning in 1947 with a modest production of less than 4,000 sets. The production reached a peak of 1,734 thousand sets in 1980-81 and nosedived to a mere 0.7 thousand in 2003-04 (Table 27.20) The main reason for this drastic fall in the production of radio receivers is attributed to the growing popularity of television sets.

Industries concerning the manufacture of refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, etc. are of recent origin and are making good progress.

Electronics Industry:

This industry covers a wide range of products including television sets, transistor sets, telephone exchanges, cellular telecom, paging, computers, and varied equipments for posts and telegraph, defence, railway and meteorological departments.

It is practically a post-independence phenomenon and has revolutionised the life style of the Indian masses in the recent past. Bangalore is the largest centre of electronics goods production and is rightly termed as the Electronic Capital of India. The other major producing centres are Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kanpur, Pune, Lucknow, Jaipur, Coimbatore, etc.

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