Exclusive Interview: In conversation with Anil Munjal, CEO, Riello Power India

Riello Power India Pvt. Ltd. is a pioneer company that produces a comprehensive range of UPS Systems, from 6 kVA to 6400 kVA for a wide range of applications, right from a small household to large industrial applications such as IT (Data Centers), electronics, medical, industrial equipment, radar & other defense equipment, telecommunication, among others. The company operates on a PAN India level with sales offices & service centers in all the metros and major cities across the country.

In a recent conversation with Metro Rail Today, Mr. Anil Munjal, CEO at Riello Power India talked on company's role in development of major infrastructure sectors in India.

How do you take your association with Riello Power India?

I have been driving Riello Power India as the CEO and Director since its inception.

Riello Power India Pvt Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of RPS S.p.A, a world leader in UPS systems. Headquartered at Legnago (Verona), Italy with manufacturing facilities in Legnago and Cormano in Italy and Manesar (Haryana) in India.

Riello UPS has its remarkable presence in India for over two decades now.

We started manufacturing in India almost a decade ago and have been taking big leaps in the industry since then. Our manufacturing plant provides the only full range of Online UPS from 6kVA - 6400kVA for almost every application.

We are a very progressive company and constantly innovate our product portfolio to lead in terms of technology and reliability. We are the only UPS manufacturer that specialises exclusively in UPSs.

Our USP is that we provide customized UPS solutions based on customer demand. Riello UPS maintains direct control over quality and reliability standards, closely following the entire manufacturing process, installation, commissioning, maintenance and aftersales service, and provide a process of continuous improvement, monitoring customers' perspective and using feedback to make rapid adjustments.

What are your priorities in the business and how are you achieving new heights in the UPS business? Please explain.

By 2023, the Indian UPS market is expected to rise at a CAGR of more than 9%. We anticipate that the demand for power backup across commercial and industrial sectors, as well as increasing digitalization across the world, will provide us with a slew of new business opportunities.

The data centre uninterruptible power supply market is expected to grow in response to the growing adoption of cloud storage services and the growing need for uninterrupted power to ensure efficient operations in banks, financial institutions, and businesses. The growing popularity of modular data centre UPS systems will provide us with a significant business opportunity.

Furthermore, in the coming years, the increasing number of technological advances and government initiatives to increase electrification rates and the growth of smart cities across the country will drive demand for UPS systems even higher. Not only that, but increasing demand from tier 2 and tier 3 cities is expected to drive UPS business growth in the country until 2023.

We are optimistic that the business will grow stronger in the coming years. We've been in the UPS market for over two decades, and it's an industry in which we're experts and have a significant technological advantage over our rivals.

Last year, everyone had a difficult time because the entire planet was confronted with and battling a pandemic. It presented us with unique challenges that pushed us to put our best foot forward and shine brighter than ever before.  We took full advantage of the time we had to get through it and came out with flying colours.

We take pride in assisting our country during this critical time by providing continuous support to all critical activities such as hospitals and telecommunications that were relentlessly responding to the COVID19 crisis and depended on the efficiency and consistency of the power supply. The medical field is one of the places where the UPS is needed. Riello Power India provided its technological solutions to protect intensive care machinery, lung ventilators and monitoring and diagnostic equipment to the healthcare sector.

What are the different products and solutions which you are providing for the Urban Mobility Sector?

Riello understands that transportation infrastructure is becoming increasingly technologically advanced and complex. At the same time, it must have a high degree of resilience and dependability under all operational and environmental environments. UPS and power continuity are critical components in ensuring service continuity and excellence.

We provide our uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS) to Urban Mobility for their Mission-Critical & Emergency Category Loads including but not limited to lighting & Control load of Lifts & Escalators, Security, Signalling, Fire Alarm Control Panel, Door Frame Metal Detectors to name a few. 

We offer them with tailor-made solutions that satisfy the requirements of special standards or particular operating conditions as may be applicable.

What is your main product for the Metro and Rail Sectors? Please specify.

As mentioned above, we provide our uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS) to Metro & Railway Sector for their Mission-Critical & Emergency Category Loads including lighting & Control load of Lifts & Escalators, Security, Signalling, Fire Alarm Control Panel, Door Frame Metal Detectors just to name a few. 

We offer them with tailor-made solutions that satisfy the requirements of special standards or particular operating conditions as may be applicable.

Our systems are relentlessly working in Delhi Metro Phase-1, Delhi Metro Phase-2, Delhi Airport Express Metro, Chennai Metro, Mumbai Metro, Lucknow Metro, Jaipur Metro as well as Rapid Metro. We are now working with various other ambitious metro projects including Delhi Metro Phase-4, Nagpur Metro, Pune Metro, Bangalore Metro, etc. to name a few.

What do you think about the expanding Indian market? Is there any major changes going to come in the near future?

We are ready for the expanding Indian market. We have recently introduced an array of new products to cover lower and middle ratings of UPS solutions to cater to B2C segment and offer range of solutions to tier 2 and tier 3 cities. We also launched additional high capacity UPS series suitable for Data Centres.

What are the specifications of your products which make them differentfrom that of the other manufacturers? Can you please tell me something about it?

As stated before, we are the only UPS manufacturer that specialises exclusively in UPSs. We are uniquely positioned in the market as we have got all the technologies and all the ratings of UPS right from SCR based to IGBT based UPS, transformer-less to transformer-based UPS and single phase to three phase UPS. We offer the only full range of Online UPS from 6kVA - 6400kVA for almost every application right from a small office or a commercial establishment to large industrial applications such as IT (Data Centres), electronics, medical, industrial equipment, radar & other defence equipment, telecommunication, BFSI, FMCG, automobile, oil & gas, education, aerospace among others.

So as you can see, Riello Power is a UPS expert and that is our core business.

With which of the Metro corporations you are currently working with? What are your plans for expansion of the business?

We are working with various other ambitious metro projects including Delhi Metro Phase-4, Nagpur Metro,  Pune Metro, Bangalore Metro, etc. to name a few. We are a technology & innovation driven company and keep on introducing new products and range of existing products for our customers benefit through our constant efforts & investment in R&D.

India is going through the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Do you think it is going to affect the economy? Please express your views.

Many organisations around the world have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has demonstrated the importance of adaptability and crisis management in dealing with unpredictable circumstances.

A new wave of Covid-19 cases poses new threats, but they are unlikely to destabilise India's economic recovery, as we have learned to deal with them in the recent past. The first wave was completely unknown and we were not prepared just like all other nations. There were no protocols and operating guidelines to combat the spread of Covid 19 so lockdown was the only choice in front of the government. But now we stand prepared and have taken lessons from the past. There are well structured guidelines and protocols prepared and shared by the government from time to time with all business sectors to safeguard employees, their families and all the citizens of our city in general from this current Pandemic of COVID-19.

In addition, the Indian government is implementing a vaccination campaign with great efficiency and swiftness. I strongly hope that we will be able to overcome it.

What are the measures which you have been taking to combat the spread of COVID-19?

We are a socially conscious organization. Our employees' 

and community's health and welfare are our top priorities. We follow all the protocols of local government and adhere to all recommended measures like social distancing, regular premise sanitization, cleanliness, well-ventilated working spaces etc. If any corona case emerges amongst our employees, we ensure that he/she goes into self-quarantine for the prescribed period along-with taking proper medication and resumes work only when it’s safe for him and others.

Wearing a mask and taking the appropriate safety measures are mandated in our organisation. It is compulsory for all our employees and outsiders to download & use Aarogya Setu App which is checked by Security Personnel at the entrance gate diligently before allowing gate entry along-with following other guidelines of measuring temperature. In addition, except for the most significant factors, we have reduced business travel to almost nothing. We are committed to support the government in their mission to fight back Corona.

In the year 2018, you inaugurated a new manufacturing plant of Riello in Manesar. What are the specifications of this plant? How will such initiatives give a boost to the Make in India initiative?

Riello Power India Pvt. Ltd. has a state-of-the-art manufacturing unit at Manesar, India. With a built up area of more than 50000 sq. ft., the plant is highly integrated facility that is designed to produce world class UPS systems and provides the only full range of Online UPS from 6kVA - 6400kVA for almost every application. This manufacturing facility is a reflection of the company’s overall growth strategy to drive innovation, technology & product development. Riello UPS is a global brand recognized as one of the world leaders within its domain. It is a big boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative as we are manufacturing our products in India with nearly 60% localization of our supply chain. 

Please share a message for our readers.

Since UPS means uninterruptible power supply thus it is a critical device that supports mission-critical applications across diverse industries. I'd like to emphasise that consumers should give value to high-quality rather than a low-cost. Customers should not equate UPS to a box rather understand the crucial need of a reliable UPS system for their business function. Since UPS is the backbone of every critical operation, customers should regard UPS as a good business partner.