Illuminating India's landscape

Illuminating India’s landscape

- Nikhil Raghavan

For the Millennials, Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India campaign is a novel approach towards making the country self-reliant and self-sufficient. But, for Dilip Kumbhat, the word ‘indigenization’ had already set into his psyche as far back as 1978. With an education in engineering and a family tradition of trading business in his blood, Dilip ventured into manufacturing electrical fittings and fixtures with a modest capital of ₹10,000.00. “That may seem a small investment in the present scenario, but, I was testing uncharted territory and the only confidence I had was that the family was in the trading business in electricals. It was a time when the big international brands such as Philips, GEC and Crompton held sway and for me to launch K-Lite as a brand was quite an adventure and a calculated risk,” recalls Dilip.

K-Lite decided at the beginning itself that they would quickly get into backward integration in making as many parts and components required for lights and fixtures. “We set up a unit in Ambattur Industrial Estate, as a Small-Scale Industry. Investing in machinery and manpower to make lamp shades, fixtures, poles and posts, shades and domes and almost everything required for a complete housing, except the lighting component like bulbs and tubes, we were able to create our own designs and even tailor-make certain bulk requirements to suit the need of our customers. At the same time, standard fittings and fixtures were bulk produced to retail in stores and through dealers. By making most of the things in-house, we were able to ensure quality right from the beginning,” says Dilip.Today, K-Lite has BMQR and ISO 9001:2008, ISO 9001:2015 certifications under their belt.