Generators market boom as Tamil Nadu power crisis worsens

Walk into any retail store selling inverters in Chennai and you will find hardly any stock left. As soon as stock arrives they are immediately sold- sometimes within the same day itself. With Tamil Nadu facing a shortfall of 4000 MW of power annually and summer approaching, Chennai residents are not taking any chances.

Households in Chennai are facing power cuts of two hours everyday. In smaller cities and towns, this increases to about 10-12 hours. The situation is no different for offices and factories in the state either. And with longer power cuts expected from April, there is now a rush to buy invertors and generators.

The market for inverters, generators and UPS in India is estimated to be around Rs 17,500 crore and that of Tamil Nadu alone has increased to around Rs 600-700 crore.

According to industry estimates, Tamil Nadu is selling around 420000-450000 inverters annually and this is likely to grow by a high double digit in the next two years.

BA Srinivasa, Director of Viveks Chennai says "The demand in my estimation is almost 100 times of what it was. Already there is a back log from our customer's either by registration or advance payment."

Now manufacturers are pulling all stops to cater to this sudden surge in demand in the state.

"There is a definite amount of surge which was not seen even in early parts of February. Power cuts and worsening and there is a substantial pick up in demand. We are increasing our production capacity and we are trying to de-bottleneck our assembly lines to make sure our distribution system is equally geared up", says Ramana Prasad Alam, Executive Director of Amara Raja Batteries .

Despite the fact that manufacturers are upping production to meet demand, supply is still falling short. A customer still has to wait at least two weeks or more to get an inverter after he places his order.