Leading auto component player Lumax Group, which in January 2022 started commercial production at its greenfield electronics plant in Bawal, Haryana, said it has a “healthier order book” which has grown by 4X compared to pre-COVID.
The Group invested INR 100 crore on the Bawal plant to produce electronics parts for the captive consumption of its 33 facilities in 8 states. Lumax said now it has increased localisation of components from 20% to 50% and it is confident that it will be able to achieve full localisation of parts at this plant by the next three years.
The Gurugram-based DK Jain Group has two publicly traded companies: Lumax Industries, which manufactures auto lighting solutions, and Lumax Auto Technologies which is into telematics, gear shifters, antennas, plastic modules, and others. In the newly-established electronics facility, Lumax has started with manufacturing printed circuit boards (PCBs), a core component of automotive lighting system, to cater to its business. It manufactures about 25,000 PCB assemblies per day, while operating across four surface mount technology (SMT) lines in three shifts. The plant employs about 300 people, with a male-female ratio of 75:25.
Lumax Industries is investing about INR 15 crore in FY23 for expansion. “We invested initially to build the entire infrastructure and shifted operations from the rented premises at Manesar to Bawal. Now we have four SMT lines and the scaleability to increase it to 16 lines. Our plan is to increase one line per year and each of these costs about INR 10 crore,” Vineet Sahni, Group CEO, Lumax, said.
The company works with OEMs across the segments including Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, MG Motor, Honda Cars, Hero MotoCorp, HMSI, TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto, and others. It also has a joint venture (JV) with Stanley Electric, Japan, which holds 37.55% stake, to support it with technology and manufacturing of electronic components along with expanding the product portfolio.
Sahni believes that the electric vehicles will take speed in the Indian automobile industry around FY25 and thus the company is contemplating manufacturing specific components for the EV industry with its JV partner. Lumax is yet to declare its March 2022 quarter earnings. It had closed FY21 with a turnover of INR 2,700 crore. Its design team in Pune and Gurugram has around 42 members.
