“A project on Battery population mapping

In power and project segment “

2009

SIDDARTH KUNDU

ROLL NO-473

B.Com Dept.

St.Xavier’s college

Under the guidance of Prof.S.M.Gomes

EXIDE INDUSTRIES LTD.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I would like to thank Mr. K SANYAL– Chief- Industrial (East), Exide Industries Limited, for giving me an opportunity to do my summer training in sucha under him.

I am grateful to my project guide Mr.D.SAHA, – HEAD, Industrial Sales (POWER) – Exide Industries Limited, Kolkata, for devoting his time for thisproject. It was his inspiration motivation and continuous guidance that has led to successful completion this project.

I would also like to thank Mr S.M GOMES, Professor (Marketing) –ST.XAVIER’S COLLEGE KOLKATA for teaching us the basics of market research and project preparation which helped a lot in preparing report.

CONTENTS

1.Introduction

2. Company Profile 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Objectives of the study 3.2 Sources 3.3 Methods of collection 3.4 Population & sample 3.5 Tools & techniques 3.6 Limitations of the study

4.Data analysis and interpretation

5.Findings and conclusion 5.1 Findings 5.2 Recommendations 5.3 Conclusion

6.Bibliography

7.Annexure

INTRODUCTION

This project was carried out to essentially find out the market share and mind share of Exide standby batteries in miscellaneous 2 volt segment vis-à-vis competition in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orrisa. An exclusively designed questionnaire was prepared for this purpose which focused on getting a thorough data about the various types and brands of standby batteries by all the respondents. The second part of questionnaire focused on certain parameters which together constitute mind share. The respondents were asked to rate these parameters to get an overall idea about their perception. The respondents are all existing major customers of Exide and were scattered all over mentioned states.

Second part gives a brief overview on battery market in India i.e. major and minor players and their market share. It also throws some light on the Government of India active interest in recent years to the recycle of the used battery.

The next parts give an outlook on Exide industrial batteries and the different types of Exide batteries according to their application.

This is followed by a SWOT analysis of Exide industrial batteries and competitor analysis. Since Exide does not have any major competitor as of now competitor analysis includes only the names of a couple of emerging competitors.

All the subsequent part show the target audience for data collection, how the data was collected, how it was analyzed manually to calculate market share and mind share. Chapter nine highlights the market share of Exide and its competitors. Chapter ten shows how the different parameters were ranked and chapters eleven and twelve show different graphs which were made on the basis of consolidated responses for all the parameters and also different factors obtained after doing factor analysis.

In the next two parts the finding and recommendation of the entire survey has been incorporated. The findings give an indication about the status of Exide against its competitor in terms of market share and mind share (which was calculated using primary data obtained from the survey) in miscellaneous and power 2 volt segment.

Based on the findings and also on personal discussion with the respondents some recommendations were made. These recommendations focused mainly on how to improve on some the vital parameters and factors which are highly rated by the respondents and where Exide lacks behind.

BATTERY MARKET IN INDIA

Indian battery market is a high market in the world. In India there has been quite aSignificant growth in market in the last year and it as expected that it will grow overThe next few years. So as the pace of development increases, India is seen as potentially one of the fastest growing market in the future. This monolith controlled 90% of the market. At present Exide is the only major player in industrial batteries segment in India.A few emerging players in these segment are :-

Amara Raja HBL Kirloskar Union Batteries AMCO

Gone are those days when end users relied in the judgment of the dealer or the contractor for choosing batteries for its use. After marked improvement in the rawMaterial and processing, buyers today and rest assured that the quality of batteries available has undergone a dramatic change. Hopefully the emerging competition will give them greater choice in the some lot of extra effort to continue to lead the market in future.

Even the Government of India has taken an active interest in recent years to the recycle of the used battery. A company now has to adhere to the norms of the ISO-14001. Exide is one such company in the Indian market which diligently takes the used batteries from the customer to obliterate it in the smolder and give the customer absolutely new battery in the place of the old battery.

2.Company profile

BRIEF HISTORY ABOUT THE COMPANY

The Company manufactures the widest range of storage batteries in the world from 2.5 Ah to 20,400 Ah capacity, covering the broadest spectrum of applications. The Company has six factories strategically located across the country – two in Maharashtra, one in West Bengal, two in Tamil Nadu and one in Haryana. The Company’s predecessor carried on their operations as import house from 1916 under the name Chloride Electrical Storage Company. Thereafter, the Company started manufacturing storage batteries in the country and have grown to become one of the largest manufacturer and exporter of batteries in the sub-continent today. Exide separated from its UK-based parent, Chloride Group Plc., in 1989, after the latter divested its ownership in favour of a group of Indian shareholders. The Company has grown steadily, modernized its manufacturing processes and taken initiatives on the service front. Constant innovations have helped the Company to produce the world’s largest range of industrial batteries extending from 2.5 Ah to 15000 Ah and covering various technology configurations.

Milestones1916 Chloride Electric Storage Co. (CESCO) UK sets up trading operations in India as an

import house.1946 First factory set up in Shamnagar, West Bengal.1947 Incorporated as Associated Battery Makers (Eastern) Limited on 31 January 1947

under the Companies Act.1947 Incorporated Chloride International Limited (previously Exide Products Limited)1969 Second factory at Chinchwad, Pune1972 The name of the Company was changed to Chloride India Limited1976 R&D Centre established at Kolkata1981 Third factory at Haldia, West Bengal1988 The name of the Company was changed to Chloride Industries Limited1994 Technical collaboration with Shin Kobe Electric Machinery Co. Ltd. of Japan, a

subsidiary of the Hitachi Group.1995 Chloride Industries Limited renamed Exide Industries Limited1997 Fourth factory at Hosur, Tamil Nadu1998 Acquisition of industrial/ manufacturing units of Standard Batteries Ltd located at

Taloja & Kanjurmarg (Maharashtra), Guindy (Tamilnadu) and plant at Ahmednagar (Maharashtra) from Cosepa Fiscal Industries Limited as a going concern.

1999 Acquired 51% Shareholding in Caldyne Automatics Ltd2000 Acquisition of 100% stake in Chloride Batteries S E Asia Pte Ltd., Singapore and

49% stake in Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Limited, Sri Lanka.2003 Commissioned plant at Bawal, Haryana

2003 New joint venture in UK, ESPEX, with 51% holding.2004 Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Limited, Sri Lanka became a subsidiary

consequent to acquiring further 12.50% Equity holding.2005 Investment in 50% shareholding of ING Vysya Life Insurance Company Limited2007 Caldyne Automatics Ltd becomes 100% subsidiary consequent to acquiring the

balance 49% shareholding.2007 Investment with 26% shareholding.in CEIL Motive Power Pty Ltd. A Joint Venture

in Australia.2007 Acquired 100% stake in Tandon Metals Ltd.2008 Acquired 51% stake in Lead Age Alloys India Ltd

Exide Industries Limited, India’s flagship of the storage battery industry- is also the Largest power Storage Solutions company in South and South East Asia

Capital Rs.712 Million(US$15.8 Million)Turnover Rs.12182 Million in 2003-04(USD$271

Million)Employees Over 4000

33% Market Share in overall domesticAuto Battery Market and 90%Market

Market Share Share in Automotive OE. Industrial Battery Market Share 50%.

Exide Industries net profit jumps 61 per cent to Rs 250 crore

Highlights of 2007 – 08 Turnover rises 51 per cent to Rs 3606 crore Pays 40 per cent dividend and thus maintains uninterrupted dividend

payment track record for 60 years Automotive battery production crosses 608 million plates Industrial battery production crosses 1169 million amp Dedicated facility for export market goes on stream 

EIL is the market leader in the organized sector in both the automotive and industrial Segments. ‘EXIDE’ and ‘SF(Standard Furukawa)’, the flagship brands of the Company,

are also the leading battery brands in the country.

The industrial application of EIL batteries extended to power, Telecom, Motive Power, Mining, Railways, Emergency Lighting and Non-Conventional Energy Sources. The Company is the largest manufacturer of cap lamp batteries in the world. It is also one of the five companies in the world which has the capability to make submarine batteries for both Russian and German types.

EIL is the first battery company in the country to introduce polypropylene case batteries and maintenance-free batteries. It is also the pioneer of several new technologies like flat-plate, and tubular plate batteries.

By virtue of being the largest Sealed Maintenance Free(SMF) batteries in Asia outside Japan, the Company has earned the status of a global supplier to American Power Conversion, the largest UPS manufacturer in the world. Besides, it also caters to othermultinationals operating within the country i.e. Siemens and Ericsson and other major players such as TVSE,HTL, Tata Liebert, Numeric and ITI.

The Company has always believed in working closely with the Government in developing and sustaining applications which are the best suited to the country’s national interest. It has tried to do its bit for the country by providing batteries specially tailored for Bofors guns, armoured vehicles and tanks, wireless transmission, solar applications in remote areas and devising anti pollution masks among others. The country’s first battery powered electric boat, designed and developed by EIL is an extension of its social initiatives and it contributes towards building an eco-friendly and pollution free nation.

Exide was the first to introduce batteries for electric vehicles, traction batteries for electric wheelchairs, flat-plate batteries for golf carts and batteries for automated guided vehicles.

Ever since Gaston Plante discovered the first lead acid electrochemical couple to store energy, the company has been the leader in the packaged power technology. Today spanning a century of vision, the products sold under Exide, Standard Furukawa and other prominent brands enjoy unparalleled customer confidence. Exide Industries Limited was formerly known as Chloride Group PLC UK till 1987 when Chloride Eastern Industries Ltd was formed in Singapore, incorporating business in India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

In an agrarian economy such as India,the farm sector is one which cannot be ignored.According, Exide’s avowed objective was to cater to the tractor segment as a thrust area. Its major initiative, Project Kissin, has made steady inroads to the rural rigions,particularly those of the North and West. This has helped spread conciousness amongthe rural populace on the need to use eco friendly and technologically superior batteries.Exide has made extensive use of Kissan Mclas and Dhabas to promote this scheme and

Has introduced “Jai Kissan” battery to cater to the replacement market in this segment.inFurthering its social commitment, EIL has planned to adopt select villages to improveSocial welfare.

VISION

“To win our customers, stakeholders and employees by transferring quality into perfo -mance-oriented business which will secure market leadership and profitable growth through effective fulfillment of customer’s needs.”

COLLABORATION

Exide has entered into long-term strategic and technical collaboration with some of the other leading manufacturers in the world :

Shin-Kobe Electrical Machinery CO. Ltd.,of Japan a subsidiary of Hitachi group for automotive and VRLA battery.The Furukawa Battery CO. Ltd., Japan for production of automotive batteries at TalojaFactory.

Oldham PLC for Miner’s Cap lamp batteries.

QUALITY POGRAM AT EXIDE

Quality has always been the hallmark of Exide , so it was no wonder that Exide India has received ISO 9001 certification followed by ISO 14001. ISO 9001 recognizes high level of customer satisfaction in terms of product quality and service by continuous interactionwith customers. ISO 14001 certification is recognition of its eco-friendly production process.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Ensure consideration of all environmental aspects in the manufacturing and other related areas minimise the adverse impacts of our activities, products or services and communicate with interested parties, as when necessary.

Continually improve our environmental performance through waste minimisation, conservation of energy and efficient utilization of natural resources.

Company with applicable national environment standards / statutory Requirements.

Train concerned personnel at all levels to mitigate environmental impacts.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This project is a survey on population survey of stationary batteries in Power 2 volt segment,in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orrisa to find out customer wise market potential and market share.

It also focus on getting an overall perception feedback from the customersregarding Exide.

METHODLOLOGY

MARKET SHARE

The first part the questionnaire of a table which deals with the details of all the standby batteries that the customer is using. The details include battery type andquantity, application, date of installation and brand. Types of batteries included Plant’,Tubular, VRLA and nickel – cadmium batteries.

MND SHARE

The second part of the questionnaire deals with finding out the mind share of Exide Batteries and its competitor. The first part contains a table which has then different parameters namely price, Performance Brand, Image, Term of Payment, Delivery, After Sales Service. The customer were asked to rate these parameters using scale of the basis of how much weight age they gave to them while purchasing standby batteries. A total was made of all these parameter individually to find out the rank of these parameters. The parameter with highest total was ranked first and the one with lowest ranked last.

Next The customers were asked to rate the same parameters on scale for the brands of standby batteries they were using on the basis of their satisfaction level- with these brands. The total of these responses was divided by the total obtained in the above able to find out the brand wise percentage of all these parameter.Thus, it was observed that the ranking of the parameters was correct and could be reliedUpon.

Now, those parameters were clubbed into same factors as per factor analysis and were total ed up on the basis of their responses and then converted into percentages to get the Factor wise percentage of Exide and its competitors.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Finding out customer wise market potential and market share of Exide Standbybatteries. It would also include finding out similar details for the competitors.

Getting an overall feedback regarding mind share of the customers and to analyze their perception of Exide as a brand vis-à-vis competition.

DATA SOURCE

For conducting this survey the customers were asked to fill up a questionnaire which was prepared exclusively for this purpose. The first part of the questionnaire dealt with battery details to calculate market share and the second part focused on certain parameters to find out mind share of customers based on those parameters.

METHOD OF COLLECTION

The market share was calculated based on total number of cells of various types and brands of batteries and mind share was calculated by ranking the different parameters and converting the individual parameters brand wise in to percentages. Based on the rank Of the parameters to know how Exide is rated vis-à-vis competiton on those parameters.

POPULATION & SAMPLEThe population of my research work is all POWER (producing & distribution )and project companies in Eastern India .The population of my research is very generalized as it covers various industrial segment.In power segment companies like WBSETCL, POWER GRID LTD,AND CESC comprised of my sample spaceAnd in project sector I interviewed 50 persons of different companies in West Bengal regarding mind share on exide batteries TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

The tools and techniques used in my research were questionnaires which can be structured and unstructured. Telephonic and personal interviews were also employed. Various pie charts and simple statistical tools were also used to represent customer views.

LIMITATIONS

The findings of this report is restricted to the authenticity of the data provided by the customers.

The survey was conducted in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa only. Hence the validity of the outcome may not be applicable to other parts of the country.

This project is carried out on a sample size of around 52 customers. So the outcome cannot be generalized.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

PARAMETERS WISE SATISFACTION RANKS

PARAMETERS EXIDE AMARA RAJA OTHERSPerformance 2 1 3After Sales Service 3 1 2Pro-activeness 3 1 2Brand Image 1 2 3Delivery 2 3 1Price 3 1 2Terms of Payment 3 1 2

Refer to Consolidated satisfaction level – parameter wise.

FACTORS EXIDE AMARA RAJA OTHERS

QUALITY 2 1 3 Service 3 1 2 Brand image 1 2 3 Pre-sales 2 3 1

MARKET SHARES - WBSETCL

TOTAL NUMBER OF CELL 11107

AMAR RAJA 1114

HBL 158

EXIDE 9835

MARKET SHARES - PGCIL

TOTAL NUMBER OF CELL 1689

TOTAL NUMBER OF CELLS CESC-6700CHLORIDE -770STANDARD 275

Type HBL Kirloskar Standard Exide

Sales 110 464 110 1005

MS% 7 27 7 60

KIRLOSTKR-110STARPLUS -110AMCO-55

TOTAL RESPONDENTS-25ALL FIGURES ARE UNDER VALUE OUT OF 250(50* MAX VALUE 10)

MARKET ANALYSIS

S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

Wide range of selection of batteries from 2.5Ah to 10,000 Ah and more Pioneer in Industrial Batteries Highly respected brand Only company to manufacture Plante’ batteries Lion’s share of market. Offers all major varieties of industrial batteries i.e. Plante’, Tubular and VRLA. Large numbers of distributors and dealers.

WEAKNESS Poor after sale service No personalized attention to esteemed clients. Lack of pro- activeness. Lack of proper training to distributors and dealers. Lethargy Complacency

OPPORTUNITIES

The company enjoys a very good brand name and it can cash in on it if it improves its after sales service.

The company can capture more market share due to lack of any substantial competition as of now.

The company can capture more market share if it offers guarantee rather than warranty on its products.

THREATS

Complacency on the part of the company may cause it to lose its market to emerging competition.

Emerging competitors are very aggressive in their marketing and this can become a problem if Exide continues to be harsh on its terms and conditions.

Lack of pro-activeness and poor after sales service can compel the customers to switch over to alternatives.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

The biggest advantage that Exide enjoys and which is a very rare scenario in

today's competitive world is lack of any substantial competition. The company

has around 80% market share in industrial batteries in West Bengal, Jharkhand and

Orissa..

There are a few emerging players like Amara Raja and HBL with around 8%

market share each but the kind of brand name and goodwill that Exide

enjoys is beyond comparision. Amara Raja is an important emerging competitor

and it manufactures only VELA batteries(Power Stack and Quanta). These

new players are marketing their products very a aggressively by way of

offering the products at Highly discounted rate and also offering long term

guarantees but the way things are going, it seems the only factor that can make them

succeed is Exide itself i.e. if Exide itself' makes some grave mistakes and paves its way

down.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

FINDINGS:

MARKET SHARE

Annexure 1 shows that the total number of cells surveyed for the project are 34,066. For case of calculation, the numbers of batteries were convent to number of cells.

Exide is the market leader in standby batteries with a Lion’s (80%) of the market. Its two competitions Amara Raja and HBL have a poor share of just 9% and 7% respectively with other brands having 4% market share.

MIND SHARE

The ten factor (Performance, Reliability, After Sales Service, Durability, Brand Image, Delivery, Availability, Price and Term of payment) are consolidated into just for factors.

Quality (Durability, Performance, Reliability)Service (After Sales Service, Perceptiveness)Brand Image Pre Sales (Delivery, Availability, Price, Terms of Payment)

It clearly shows that Amara Raja is topping the chart with highest satisfaction level in first two factors (Quality and Service). Exide is second in Quality and third is Service Factors.

Exide Leads the chart in Brand Image But is Second in Pre – Sales factor followed by Amara Raja with others in the lead.

Exide has very poor percentage in customer satisfaction in terms of After Sales Service

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the above findings it can be said that Exide has to really gear up if it

wants to continue to enjoy lion's share of the market. Mentioned below are

recommendations which, if followed, call help the company to lead like a leader.

The company does not have much problem with reliability and performance.

But it is far far behind in terms of after sales service and pro-activeness, In order to

improve on this Exide should make it a point to take regular feedback from its

customers.

The company should train its distributors and dealers properly so that

they can be pro-ac t ive in ask ing the cus tomers how th ings a re

go ing and i f they requi re any assistance.

THE COMPANY SHOULD PERSONALLY KEEP IN TOUCH WITH

ITS E S T E E M E D C U S T O M E R S R A T H E R T H A N

L E A V I N G T H E M I N T H E HANDS OF DISTRIBUTORS AND

DEALERS.

The company shou ld have a p rope r cus tomer care centre t o

hand le t he complaints of its customers.

CONCLUSION

To conclude it can be said that though the findings of this survey does not have much for Exide to cheer about but not all is lost yet. Situation can again turn back to Exide’s favour if the company takes certain steps. Some of those steps are mentioned in recommendations. Exide had the biggest advantage of its brand and it can turn all its weaknesses into strengths if it takes certain precautions. Emerging competition it seems, will give a tough competition to Exide in future but if the company improves on its service it can no challenge would be worth worry. Here are come important outcomes, limitations and some major recommendations once again.

Amara Raja. Exide’s emerging competitor ranks first in seven out of ten parameters. Those parameters are Performance, Reliability. After Sales service, Pro-activeness, Durability, Price and Terms of Payment. The major findings of the survey revealed that Exide is the leader in terms of Brand Image and Availability but in all in all of the other important parameters its emerging competitor Amara Raja steals the show. The findings also pointed out that Exide is extremely poor in After Sales Service and Pro-activeness.

To conclude it can be said that the road ahead is tough for Exide. The company was a virtual monopolist until now but with emerging competition Exide will have to focus very hard on winning the hearts of its existing customers and also attract new customers by improving tremendously on Pro-activeness and After Sales Service..

In the next two parts the finding and recommendation of the entire survey has been incorporated. The findings give an indication about the status of Exide against its competitor in terms of market share and mind share (which was calculated using primary data obtained from the survey) in miscellaneous and power 2 volt segment.

Based on the findings and also on personal discussion with the respondents some recommendations were made. These recommendations focused mainly on how to improve on some the vital parameters and factors which are highly rated by the respondents and where Exide lacks behind.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Marketing research: Text and cases by Bruce Wrenn

2. Moneycontrol.com

3. Exideindustries.com

4. Amaron.com