Could you give us a brief overview of Kyoritsu in India?
This year is the 80th year of company being formed in Japan. Kyoritsu India was born in 2016 though in India we have been there for past 35-plus years. From 2016, we started building Pan India sales network, after-sales services and calibration support for the Indian consumers, including the local availability of stocks, marketing and everything that we can localise. That is the ‘mantra’ as we aspire to become the choice of electrical professionals.
How has the journey been for 4 years and what kind of footprint you have as of now?
The journey has been interesting. The journey has been from Kyoritsu being a brand which built on word of mouth as the quality of the product was very good and thus, grew at a slower pace, to now, where we have spent more time on structuring our market access and reach. We made easy access for the older user or the brand loyal customer and then built a very aggressive marketing around the brand and the value it brings to the customers. And that is the way we are acquiring this new set of customers while we keep the older brand loyal customers with us. So, make it easy for the older, get the new ones in, and give them the same kind of experience and take them along in this India growth journey.
How has ELECRAMA 2020 been for you and what sort of innovations or partnering solution have you bought here in this market?
This ELECRAMA was very exciting as Indian electrical professionals make their journey from under maintained to predictive maintenance and Kyoritsu India has the right tools for the industry. As we assist building the right electrical maintenance practices and build the maintenance thought process, we feel the same way for electrical safety too. Electrical safety is a subject which is close to us. Our electrical maintenance products have been safe for users as per the applicable IEC Standards and now we have entered into electrical safety in a bigger way. We have created a Safety Division under Kyoritsu India. We have partnered with few of the pioneering Japanese companies who are into voltage sensing, fall arrest and electrical monitoring systems along with safety tools for electrical and facility construction. We feel that safety as a critical subject will go through transition in India. Today safety currently is a word which is good to have not must-have and that is why we feel this change will happen sooner than expected. We are very optimistic about India market. This market has made shift from ‘Chalta hai’ on quality to ‘Quality is Must’ and all of us have been witness to that shift. Similarly, we are very optimistic and we know that we will move from ‘Ok to have safety’ to ‘Must have safety’ soon too. We know Indian consumers change pace cautiously and we want to be with them as the change happens so that by the time it builds to a level where people say this is ‘Must-have’ we will be in a place to serve them and bring these best of line solutions which are doing well in many other developed economies.
Could you name the Japanese companies with whom you have recently partnered?
HASEGAWA is one of the electric safety companies we represent now under our Safety Division was established in 1925 so one can understand how knowledgeable on the subject of electrical safety, voltage detection, phase measurements and full gamut of electrical safety products hey will be. Very focused, large manufacturing, state-of-the-art testing facility and consumer centric R&D and that is why they are No. 1 in markets they serve. They have almost 60 per cent market share in Japan which is a country which takes electrical safety very seriously.
NAGAKI is another brand who are into transmission laying tools. They have around 100 per cent market share in Japan and have been around in this dominant position since1946.
Sanko is into personal safety systems. Again, a very old and
large manufacturer. So, for us it is important whatever we bring to India in safety, we have to take it seriously first. I don’t know how the journey and learnings for these companies will be but I am very sure that we have got the best into India. Now, it is the consumer to select the best for their ‘best’ which is their ‘people’.
