The Chennai-based power conditioning and power back-up products manufacturer Consul Consolidated Pvt Ltd (CCPL) has embarked on an organic and inorganic growth path to achieve a four-fold increase in turnover to Rs 500 crore by 2014-15.

The company, which had picked up a majority stake in Pune-based Megatech to fast track its foray into the solar business, has also attracted investment from private equity firm Peepul Capital.

Speaking to Business Line here, N.P. Krishnan, Director-Marketing, CCPL, said the company was making an aggressive foray into the solar energy business.

Megatech, with a turnover of Rs 40 crore, has already installed 5 MW of solar power and manufactures key components itself. From being a largely Maharashtra-focused player, it would expand its presence pan-India post-acquisition by CCPL and increase its product profile and capacity.

He said his company had registered with the Tamil Nadu Energy Development Agency (TEDA) and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and was keen to participate in the roll-out of solar energy units, both in Tamil Nadu and outside.

Krishnan said during 2012-13, CCPL was targeting a turnover of about Rs 50 crore from the solar business. It was a natural progression from its existing business of power conditioning and power back-up products to solar energy as there was great synergy between the two.

The Photo Voltaic (PV) cells now cost just Rs 50-Rs 60 each instead of Rs 200 earlier, bringing down the total cost of the solar power pack. There was a Government subsidy and a mandate for minimum captive power generation through solar energy by large consumers, all of which have changed the landscape for this sector.

He said CCPL, which had a turnover of Rs 120 crore during the last year, wanted to grow into a Rs 500-crore company by 2014-15. While about Rs 125 crore of this was projected to come from its solar foray, the rest would come from its power conditioning and back-up products.

Krishnan said CCPL had also drawn investment from PE investor Peepul Capital, which had invested in CCPL about six months back and would invest about Rs 60 crore over a period of time. The company was also leasing out a 40,000 sq.ft area near Chennai as part of its drive to achieve organic and inorganic growth in business.

Krishnan said CCPL had developed two new products — Intelligent Power & Electric Management System (iPEMS) and ‘ATMSure’. While the first helped in doing away with the physical operation of ATM premises, the latter was particularly useful in running ATMs in remote locations where power supply was irregular. It has a heavy-duty UPS with heavy-duty batteries and is equipped with special chargers that could supply power for up to 16 to 24 hours to an ATM.

He said while at present batteries in a UPS would last for 300 cycles of charging and discharging, his company's product would last for 3,500 cycles of charging and discharging. From full discharge to full charge, it would take about 8 hours.

Krishnan, explaining the advantages of iPEMS, said it helped to ‘monitor, run and operate’ an ATM from a remote location. All the constituents of an ATM — from the machine in which the cash is stored, UPS, ACs, fans — were monitored to ensure their efficient operation. There was energy-saving to boot as the ACs could be switched on and off and the temperature re-set remotely.

He said the ATMSure as a package costs about Rs 60,000 and iPEMS would cost about Rs 20,000. The company gives the option of monitoring the latter on behalf of the client for a fee from a centralised location at Chennai. While there would be about 30 per cent saving in power cost for ATMs, the uptime of ATMs would be high because of iPEMS, which has already been launched on a pilot basis.

He said his company was eyeing the large number of bank ATMs — about 60,000 in number — that are expected to be opened in the next 18 months and also about 15,000 ‘white labelled’ ATMs, not attached to any bank, that are expected to become operational. Besides, there were a number of bank ATMs already functioning and all this offered good potential for CCPL’s new products.

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