— Gilles Schnepp,
Chairman & CEO, Legrand
Global giant Legrand holds nearly 20 per cent world market share
for wiring devices, and national leadership is several countries.
Gilles Schnepp who was recently in New Delhi spoke to
Mrinalini
Prasad on how he perceives the global giant's growth in India.
Schnepp is confident that India's contribution to Legrand's global
portfolio, which is currently 3 per cent, could rise significantly over
the next decade. Schnepp who is also a brand ambassador to
Elecrama 2012 is upbeat about the mega event.
How has Legrand grown in India in the recent years, and how do
the coming years look to you?
The growth in India in last few years have been achieved in two
ways—one by growing organically two by acquisitions—and
it has been very satisfactory growth. Organic growth has been
25 per cent per year for last five years. On top of this we have
had the pleasure of Indian companies joining us to become
new partners in our development. Three companies have so
far joined Legrand in India - MDS in 1996, DIPL in 2008 and
Indo Asian in 2010. All this has helped us to build very strong
base in India. Currently, we have six factories and 3,300
employees in India.
Growth in India is probably one of the fastest for Legrand as
compared to other new economies. Specifically in last five
years, India has been the fastest growing new economy.
What is your view on the volatility of the Indian real estate
market—perhaps Legrand's biggest growth driver?
Real estate market covering residential, commercial and
industrial such as warehouse, factories are the main
destinations of our products. As such we are paying a lot of
attention to the development of these sectors. We believe that
the real estate market has a huge potential of development in
the coming years in India, given the very fast development of Indian economy. This development is going to require fast
development of the housing and commercial real estate sector.
Legrand is always perceived as a "premium" brand. Does this
perception restrict your market penetration?
Legrand is a brand that is recognized for the quality of its
product. We do cater all segments of the markets from
economic segment that are affordable up to luxury segments.
However, on all these segments, we never sacrifice on quality.
You recently acquired the switchgear business of a reputed brand
"Indo Asian". What are your major expectations from this deal?
Indo Asian joined Legrand a year ago. Indo Asian is one of the
major players of the Indian markets in Miniature Circuit
Breakers and it is very complimentary to the position that was
created when MDS joined the group as MDS typically is one of
the best names for switchgear for project activities and Indo
Asian is one of the best players in the retail segment of
switchgear. So it is very complimentary for us to have two
brands addressing two segments of the Indian market.
Legrand is known to be a "wiring devices" company. How do you
intend to promote other products like cable management
solutions and home automation?
Legrand, at the world level, is number one with 20 per cent
market share for switches and socket outlets and we have
national leadership in many countries. In India, we have number
two position in wiring devices for projects and we have the
leadership in miniature circuit breakers and distribution
boards. But, we also have many other product offerings that we
are proposing to the market including the energy management
solutions and cable management. In cable management
segment there are two main product ranges which we decided
to manufacture and introduce in India which are busbars and
wire mesh. These products offer great potential for us, given
that at the world level we have leadership in wire mesh and we
are one of the main European players in busbars.
We intend to promote these products through local
production and then it is up to the local marketing and
sales teams to channel those products through the various
segments that may have an interest in those products. We
have close to 500 employees working in the sales and
marketing team in India.
What would you consider as Legrand's biggest achievements
so far?
Legrand has been very successful in its international expansion.
We have built leadership in many products at world level.
Legrand does 35 per cent of its sales in new economies which is
quite an achievement. We have leadership in many product
segments in China, India, Brazil, and Russia. In India, we are
very proud that we have been able to achieve leadership in two
main product segments and have challenger positions in many
other product segments and to have successfully grown that
fast in last decade.
Please summarize your growth plans for India and how much of
your global business do you see coming from India, over the
next 7-10 years?
Today India represents more than 3 per cent of our sales. This
will hopefully reach 4 per cent next year. I see India
representing 5 to 10 per cent in the coming decade. This
expansion will be made through growth and expansion of
product offering, which will be facilitated by local production. It
can even go higher than that if we are able to have other Indian
companies joining Legrand.
What are your expectations from the IEEMA and ELECRAMA 2012?
ELECRAMA is a very important event in electrical industry, not
only for India but for the world as there are many nations
exhibiting and attending the event. We are very glad that IEEMA
has requested Legrand to be a brand ambassador. We intend to
actively promote the event.