Philips Digs At Bottom of the Pyramid

Friday, November 13, 2009

Hyderabad: Philips Electronics India Ltd is resorting to innovative pricing and customer engagement models in India to gain market share and acceptance by ’bottom-of-the-pyramid’ segments and enterprise customers. Clean energy is the common pitch that Philips is making to log in higher customer numbers through such innovations.

For instance, in one such initiative, the company has collaborated with Washington-based C Quest Capital (CQC) to supply 2.6 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) to official residences of employees of the Indian Railways. These CFLs have a life of 10,000 hours and will be supplied free of cost to the Railways under the scheme and available on exchange with energy-inefficient incandescent bulbs. However, the condition is all the legal and beneficial rights to any emission reduction generated by the bulbs and all corresponding benefits and all certified emission reductions (CERs) will accrue to CQC, which is funding the project.

While the project kicked off on a quite note earlier this year, Philips is now talking to several state governments for establishing similar lighting ventures, Philips Electronics India MD & CEO Murali Sivaraman told DNA Money.

The Indian subsidiary of the €26 billion Royal Philips group, which is present in India across various verticals like healthcare, consumer and professional lighting, domestic appliances and personal care, is currently talking to at least five states for similar projects.
Rajeev Chopra, head of lighting, Philips India, said, “We are open to such innovative engagements for financing options through carbon credits or otherwise including service contracts even with commercial establishments.”

Source: DNA India (link opens in a new window)