Kapil Dev forays into street lighting biz

Former India cricket captain, Kapil Dev Nikanj,on Monday entered into a marketing agreement with South Africa-based Enviro-Light Technologies, promoted by former South African captain Clive Rice to launch eco-friendly street lights in India.

Kapil Dev has recently formed a new company, Berget Buildcon Pvt Ltd to enter into the street light business and has secured rights for sole distributorship from Enviro-Light.

Speaking to Business Standard after signing the MoU with Clive Rice, here at the 18th International Engineering Trade Fair (IETF '09), organised by CII, Kapil Dev said, "India is facing a severe shortage of electricity and the country needs high quality lighting in view of the current security scenario, especially after the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year. As sodium vapor lamps do not give clear view of the objects, our streets need bright compact fluorescent (CFC) lamps under which you can identify a person even in a moving car."

Under the MoU, Kapil Dev's company will import Enviro-Light's eco-friendly and energy-saving street lights and sell to state-run corporations and municipalities across the country. In the next two years it plans to set up a manufacturing plant in India, he said.

The SA-based Enviro-Light specialises in the design, supply and installation of energy efficient lighting systems to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The CFLs are manufactured by Hella SA (Pty) Ltd and Visa-Rama of South Africa holds the patent for the reflector, which is based on automotive headlight technology.

"I am excited to tie up with Kapil to improve India's lighting infrastructure with our products, which are energy efficient without light deficiency. The Enviro-Light reflector system produces optimum photometrics that maximises light output in the target areas," Rice said.

Kapil said the company is interested in bidding for the Commonwealth Games order and will be making a presentation to the government of Delhi next week in this connection.

Currently, Kapil Dev's another company, Dev Musco Lighting (P) Ltd has installed stadium lighting systems at various stadiums in Mohali, Ahmedabad, Panchkula and Bangalore's tennis and football stadiums. In 2007-08, the company reported a turnover of Rs 20 crore.

Enviro-Light has recently shipped about 400 lamps to Berget for two pilot projects in Assam and field trials in townships and residential colonies to improve lighting in 'B' class streets, which are typically service roads or internal roads where sensitive or vital installations are located.

"There is a huge potential in the replacement and newer markets for CFC lamps. Investment and location details for the manufacturing plant are yet to be worked out," Kapil said.

"Unlike traditional and sodium vapor lamps, which consume about 70-80 watts of energy, our 57 watt street lights use only 54watts because of an electronic ballast, which allows for about 70 percent energy saving," Rice pointed out.

With five-year warranty, Enviro-Light bulbs last for about 20,000 hours and cost just Rs 5,900 per unit.

Besides making product presentations and demos across the country, Kapil is looking at marketing these lighting systems with Indian Railways, civic corporations, housing societies and townships of state-run enterprises and private colonies to aggressively promote the next-generation lighting product.