How Did This Age-Old Electrical Company bag Government's Project of Providing Street Lights All Across The City From being the sole providers and manufacturers of ceiling fans to providers of street light today, indeed Orient electric has come a long way.

It is a fact that being one of the most trusted and oldest brands in market isn't a stance which is easy to attain and maintain. Unless and until people see a continuous spree of innovation within the brand, its sustenance will always be under a question. Sustainable growth is among the biggest challenges which almost every leader faces at some point of time in life, but certainly isn't a new problem. But we do have exemplary companies within our vicinity which can be cited as example of perfect sustenance for other legendary brands. From being the sole providers and manufacturers of ceiling fans to providers of street light today, indeed Orient electric has come a long way. Going with a CK Birla brand, has been extremely well respected, and therefore it carries an essence of a strong heritage as well. "Today we are the largest manufacturers and exporters of fans to an extent that 60 percent of the fans exported from India are of Orient," says Orient Electric MD and CEO Rakesh Khanna.

Revolutionizing the legacy
The whole journey of change started about 8 years back. Having invested heavily, the group started with CFL lamps; where there was a certain struggle, but nonetheless they gradually mastered the art of manufacturing of CFL. Soon with the emergence of LEDs, CFL began to decline. Since last 4 years, LEDs have grabbed maximum eyeballs and have also begun to rule the markets on full swing. Today, Orient is counted as one of the top 3 manufacturers of LED lamps and has even forayed into making fast inroads in LED luminaries as well. "So put together the growth rate in LED and our position in LED is growing very fast and we are well positioned to meet the growing demands," believes Khanna.
In the cooling category too, Orient is an established name in itself but here also there have been renovation as part of their journey. People have always associated fans in just white and brown colored variants. Nobody has ever bothered about what kind of fans we put up. Even today it's a low involvement category. "The transformation voyage in this segment began when we started towards decorative and premium fans, which happened around five years back! Decorative fans started becoming a higher share product in the market. Somewhere people started becoming interested in fans. But still it was a normal fan, at best you could make it in different colors apart from usual white and brown and you could put a golden or a silver trim," exclaims Khanna. Then they introduced the under light fan. Prior to this, introduction of PSPO fans was the first ever revolution which was there. After that there was no other kind of innovation, except cost reduction and increasing RPM. "Historically, we have been best in market and are innovating our existing range in the best possible way, giving out newer product ranges to our existing portfolio," says khanna.

Towards Newer Initiatives
Coming from nowhere and getting into streetlights, consumer luminaries, getting a strong head with air; it has been a great achievement. Recently Orient has even bagged the mandate of providing the streetlights all across Delhi under government's project. Also, marketing the brand by roping in the "cool captain- Dhoni' too was a bold move in itself. The association has been fairly strong. "Currently we are not planning any new product range in the existing portfolio as still there is lot that in needs to be done in order to bring out considerable changes in market with our existing range. It hasn't be exhausted to the extent as of now," laughs Khanna.