Standardisation and regulation put emphasis on safety

Highlighting the latest addition to their product profile Panasonic Uno Plus, Sunil Narula, Vice President – Marketing, Panasonic Life Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., walks us through their commitment on moving towards green energy. 

How do you see your products complementing energy efficiency? 

Energy efficiency is one of the most important things that we are focusing on. In fact, the UNO Plus range brings numerous things when it comes to energy efficiency. This is the range that could allow us to reduce power consumption by nearly 30 percent. These are the levels of features we have embodied in our products. 

What is your organisation’s commitment towards green energy? 

Panasonic Life, as an organisation, has a very long-term commitment towards energy efficiency, green and renewable energy. If you look closely, Panasonic Life Solutions already has a solar division and a solar business that have been growing in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. To be more specific, earlier we used to have imported modules under the Panasonic brand known as HIT modules, and now we have also started initiating tie-ups with large and established Indian vendors. We are also looking at adding investments in expanding the channel and amplifying our solar footprints across the country. 

What are the major challenges in implementing your ideas and commitment, and barriers in convincing the customers/market to enhance the green energy shift? 

When it comes to the end consumers or the targeted industries, we already have an alternate power supply. So, I think the barriers are typically in terms of the alternatives that are already available. Moreover, the government is already undertaking all significant and necessary actions by bringing the required mandate towards the same. By doing this, we are creating restrictions for the end consumers, whether residential or commercial, which further helps the government to push their idea of a green energy revolution in India and across the world. 

Do you see that a lack of implementation strategies is creating difficulties for the market in absorbing branded or standardised products? 

I think the government has done a fantastic job over the last decade in terms of putting in regulations, which are important for safer and branded products. This has definitely enabled companies like ours to basically focus on the safety and comfort of consumers, and deliver the best possible products to end consumers. So, I believe the government has been doing it and there have been many initiatives that have been taken, whether it is about greener products or even about the regular products that we bring in on a regular basis. 

What is your experience in the solar business? And how is India responding to it? 

Solar energy is something that is already gaining potential momentum across the country. We have a good presence across the industrial space where we are targeting B2B customers. Also, simultaneously, we have recently launched some B2C products, including hybrid inverters, which will help us pay additional attention and care in the B2C space for solar business.