Chennai is fast becoming a market for selling inverters on account of power supply problems faced by the residents in the past few years.
Secretary of Madras Electric Trades Association Chanchal Raj said that the market for inverters has been witnessing substantial growth in the city.
According to market estimates, the peak demand for inverters would be during the months from February to June. This year the shortage of batteries in the city resulted in the price of inverters increasing in the range of Rs. 500-700 in retail outlets. But this problem was rectified two months ago, said Sanjay Jain, a wholesale dealer of inverters. “May and June witnessed a severe shortage of batteries. Most of the customers were not able to get batteries. Normally northern states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh used to be the markets for inverters but now most of the manufacturers are focusing on Tamil Nadu because of power cuts in the past two years,” he added. One dealer was able to sell 1,400 inverter sets this year, he added.
It was more than 50 per cent compared to the figure last year. The average price of inverters sold in the city markets range from Rs.10,000 to Rs.2.4 lakh.
The inverters of 600 VA, 800 VA and 1400 VA are sold to 80 per cent of the total customers a year.
The increase in awareness among residents has led to installation of an inverter in every newly built house, said Mr.Jain.
Manish, a retailer, advised that regular maintenance of inverters and proper calculation of load factor could help the residents get value for money. The competition among manufacturers to understand the demands of the market has increased and more research and development to cope with power cuts has been done by many of them.
“Inverters market will be there as long as power cuts are there,” said Mr.Manish.
