Founded in 2014, Livguard was established as a brand under the SAR Group, as an energy storage solutions company that specializes in electronics manufacturing with products such as inverters, inverter batteries, automotive batteries, stabilisers, and solar batteries.
Looking at the year gone by, Rakesh Malhotra, Founder, Livguard says, “The three-quarters of FY25 has been good and we are on a significant growth track. Since inception, in the last 10 years, we as a company have been growing at 35% per cent CAGR. We are at about a 30% growth rate for the year. All segments are firing well, especially the solar and the e-mobility segments which are growing very rapidly for us.”
Coming to the solar business, there is a perception that installing solar rooftops is an expensive affair. However, what has helped the sector has been the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijlee Yojana scheme which provides for a subsidy of 60% of the solar unit cost for systems up to 2kW capacity and 40% of additional system cost for systems between 2 to 3kW capacity.
The subsidy has been capped at 3kW capacity. This works out to Rs 30,000 subsidy for 1kW system, Rs 60,000 for 2kW systems and Rs 78,000 for 3kW systems or higher. The Government scheme has kick-started the market for residential rooftop solar, with the market growth in the residential rooftop segment at around 45% to 50%. Malhotra says, “Today, the affordability is at an all-time high. With the subsidies under the government scheme for a residential consumer with a rooftop to get a solar system installed, the payback times has now shrunk to three-years, that is you can get your entire investment, after the subsidy, back in three years time. Installation of solar system has become mainstream and attractive for consumers to buy. Even without this subsidy scheme, we have reached six years for recouping the investment.”
However, a concern for the industry is the lack of standardization and adherence to standards, in terms of the overall installation process, such as getting the right panel and inverter, the installation not done at the right angle etc. This leads to suboptimal generation and an unreliable performance. Malhotra says, “Today’s consumer is not a solar expert and is unable to make out the difference between the right product, the right solution and where to get the right service. That's a gap in the market and Livguard is focused on providing a worry free and single point solution. He continues, “The consumer just has to call a number or visit our website and from there an expert assistant takes over. The whole journey right from understanding the load consumption, the rooftop, the installation process and then providing service throughout the warranty period, which extends to 10-12 years. This is what the consumer is looking for. Livguard has taken it upon itself that we will take care of everything in one place and provide a full solution to a consumer where the consumer has to only pay. This will be an important game changer in this market. Given the fact that there is a large interest and adoption of solar rooftops, this will make it easier for the consumer, and make the purchase far more reliable from a consumer standpoint.”
While the awareness and interest levels about solar and e-mobility is high, consumer awareness is needed how to go about the entire process and this leads to the customer’s buying journey being broken. However, not many brands have invested in this process to educate consumers. On its part, Livguard is making deep investments to convey its 360-degree solution, to make sure that every consumer looking at a solar solution has heard of Livguard’s offering.
One investment is Livguard’s seven-year partnership is with actor Akshay Kumar. Malhotra says, “Akshay Kumar’s relevance comes from two very important alignments between the brand's focus and his own personality. Livguard is an energy solutions business and energy unlimited is our brand promise, if there is one celebrity with unlimited energy, it would be Akshay Kumar. There is a natural alignment between the brand and the brand ambassador. Kumar is also one person who's known to support and promote causes and has made multiple films which have picked up relevant social causes. Sustainable energy and sustainable transportation are also social and environmental causes that he's quite passionate about. We are using him both in terms of his mass appeal, but also as a thought leader who supports causes relevant to the society.”
Livguard is also looking to leverage IPL’s (Indian Premier League) reach to connect with consumers creatively and effectively. The company is looking to partner with IPL teams in the context of its operations, i.e. sustainable energy, and use the relationship to promote and cement its positioning in the consumer's mind.
As a brand, Livguard is in the middle of energy, transition and sustainability. Its portfolio traverses home energy solutions, home power backups, solar rooftops, electric mobility solutions, and lithium batteries. This places the brand in a sweet spot not just with the socially and environmentally aware younger consumers but also with the older consumers. Malhotra says, “Consumers want to do their bit as individual consumers in terms of sustainability. In the next five years, brands will have no choice but to do the environmentally correct thing if they have to stay relevant. For Livguard, the good thing is that we are in the right businesses and this makes us relevant and sustainable as a brand.” He continues, “Five years ago, conventional automotive was 40% of our business and EV contribution was minuscule. Today electric mobility is 35% of our business while conventional automotive is only 15%. The shift is happening because our business model is focused on electric mobility and solar. Five years ago, our solar business was less than 10% of our company's turnover; while conventional lead acid batteries and home power backup systems were about 50% of our business. Today, it's about 30% conventional and 20% solar. Three years out, solar will be 40% and conventional will be probably 20%. We are driving the whole company and the brand into sustainability, and this is the major part of our business.”
Coming to the inverter business, Livguard was a late entrant in this space. In a period of six years, Livguard managed climb to the third spot and gained 15% of the market share on the strength of three pillars. Malhotra says, “The three pillars of our success are product quality and innovation, extensive service network and consistent investment on channel development and brand development. Today, we provide service in more than 4,000 locations across the country, servicing close to 8,000 consumers every day across the country. Livguard has come to be known as an innovative company, constantly upgrading the product and its functionality. We also invested extensively on the brand because of which the growth has been phenomenal.”
The industry has seen a transition from bigger cities, Tier I, Tier II cities to Tier III, Tier IV and Tier V towns with the industry growth coming from smaller towns. While the big cities on an industry size have seen degrowth, the industry has seen high single digit growth CAGR due to faster growth in the smaller towns. Malhotra adds, “Our growth has been in the range of 35% year-on-year, because we are constantly gaining market share. The growth is obviously more coming from the smaller cities. Since we were a new brand and relatively underrepresented in the market, we are seeing growth even in the bigger cities. because we are gaining market share right now. Over the last six years, we have been amongst the top share of voice in the industry for inverters and inverter batteries.”
Looking ahead, Livguard will continue to focus on its three pillars as Malhotra says, “More innovation, consistent and dependable product, delivery and service and aspirational move towards more sustainable solutions for home power, backup, rooftop, solar and electric mobility. These are the three things that we will continue. We will be happy if we can maintain a growth rate in the range of 25% to 30% for the next five years. That's the number that we are aspiring to do, because as companies become bigger, it's harder to grow at 40% or 35% a year. But even 30% growth rate, is a fast growth rate in a market where a lot of dynamic changes are happening. Many new players are entering and different kind of technologies are being brought in. We want to stay at the forefront of that change and continue to maintain our market share growth in each of the segments that we operate.”
.jpg)
