Tackle its massive territory, time zone differences and
multiple languages and business opportunities in India abound.
There may not be an AV market with more buzz than India. According to the IMF, the country has surpassed China in growth and is on track to overtake the UK in 2020, having surged past the French economy in 2018.
GDP is expected to reach $2.9 trillion in 2019, with services the fastest growing sector contributing 60 per cent to the total. A burgeoning middle class with rising income tend to be young, educated and with purchasing power.
In tandem, the local AV industry has shown remarkable growth. And according to figures from AVIXA, the Indian subcontinent is projected to increase by seven per cent a year until 2022 when it’s expected to overtake the Japanese market (second to China in APAC) to value $8.6bn by 2022.
“India has one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing AV markets in the world which keeps developing at an exponential rate,” says Valentina Zarivchatska, director of business development, CEE, APC, LATAM at videowall and display management solutions specialist VuWall. “This growth is driven by several factors such as domestic and foreign investments, overall strength of the Indian economy, and political stability.”
“Pro AV is now a fully recognised profession in India,” says Rishubh Nayar, national sales manager, enterprise, Christie India. “We have a number of industry colleagues training and upgrading themselves to be on par with their peers in the west in terms of skillsets. A growing number of industry players are obtaining CTS qualifications. The quality of installs has improved significantly as well, with SIs and consultants working together and pitching for projects where quality has become one of the biggest selling points. A lot of greenfield projects are now considering pro AV as an essential component from the initial construction bidding process.”
A sign of growth is InfoComm India which last year drew nearly 10,000 attendees, a 21 per cent rise year on year. Peerless-AV is among the first time exhibitors at this September’s edition. “Over the past three years, India has experienced huge growth from an economic and AV industry standpoint,” says Melinda Von Horvath, vice-president of sales and marketing. “This is largely due to an influx of multinationals from across the world setting up shop in the major metropolitan cities. The pro AV culture in India is changing owing to this influx and as the spending power, knowledge and willingness of end users to invest in quality, commercially robust solutions increases in parallel.”
National diversity
However, in a country made up of 29 different states and seven union territories, the market varies widely and requires a lot of patience and a long-term strategy to be successful.
However, in a country made up of 29 different states and seven union territories, the market varies widely and requires a lot of patience and a long-term strategy to be successful.
“The main challenge for a non-Indian company developing a market strategy there is in establishing where exactly the opportunity is,” says Tom Rockwell, CSO, disguise. “The country is huge and opportunity is seemingly everywhere, however without a focused approach and thoughtful strategy it’s easy to get distracted.”
Instead of thinking of India as a single entity, it’s worth approaching each state as a separate country, often with its own language, cultural practices and preferences. Different regions have different industry clusters. Therefore, regional plans and good local research are essential.
“The potential opportunities are vast and the rewards could be great but you have to take into account such challenges as local cultural differences, distance from your HQ, time difference and competition from Indian made products as well as cheap Asian imports,” says Andy Lee, Datapath account manager, IMEA, CIS & ANZ. “You also have to be aware that there are not one or two major cities to cover, there are potentially five or six and cross-country travel can be challenging.”
Its vast geography means that a large infrastructure is needed to support deployments, “both in terms of installations, for making the solution functional at each site, and for maintenance and after sales service,” says Atul Jasra, business head (India), Philips Digital Signage Solutions and AOC Monitors. “The demand for value for money that is a generic part of Indian consumer buying behaviour can also make it more challenging to meet price expectations.”
Partners on the ground
Having people on the ground who can work directly with integrators every day is vital. Datapath works with local channel and OEM partners including the distributor, Mindstec. “Our partners cover a lot more ground than we could ourselves but we make the region a priority and visit regularly for training and meeting updates to assist them.”
Having people on the ground who can work directly with integrators every day is vital. Datapath works with local channel and OEM partners including the distributor, Mindstec. “Our partners cover a lot more ground than we could ourselves but we make the region a priority and visit regularly for training and meeting updates to assist them.”
VuWall, based in Canada and Germany, has also availed the services of Mindstec for rapid installation, 24/7 support and maintenance. Its HQ is in Bangalore, but most of the country’s territory is covered by a group of regional offices and local representatives in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
VNS, the maker of GeoBox edge-blending and videowall solutions, finds that having just one distributor made it impossible to cover such a sophisticated market. It is hosting a booth at Infocomm India with the main purpose of finding more local partners (including distributors and resellers).
“One challenge with the market is that the decision-making process is really slow,” warns VNS CEO Steve Wang. “It’s normal for a project to be pending for more than a year. Another challenge concerns commercial credit. We have to be much more cautious in India than when doing business elsewhere. By this I mean the credit line on the whole pipeline, not only between us and distributors, but also distributors with resellers, and resellers with end-users. This is not always the case, but we do face greater challenges here.”
Jasra also warns of an increased lead time in project completion. “We still have a long way to go in terms of streamlining and shortening lead time, and the only way to overcome this is to fast track the tendering process in India.”
Sidharth Chhibber, director of Powersoft distributor Acoustic Arts suggests the Indian pro AV market in India is on the march because of the government’s focus on expanding infrastructure. “The market needs maturity in terms of higher quality products and still focuses mainly on lower to lower-mid segment product lines as India remains a largely price sensitive economy,” he says. “Standardisation of solutions is a big challenge as awareness is relatively low. We need more workshops, forums and engagement within the industry.”
Disguise handles local business through its London headquarters but is making a renewed effort to build a presence in India by appointing a distributor (ARK Infosolutions) to provide local support, training, stock, sales, marketing and finance.
“India can be a complex market for a non-Indian entity – with considerations of everything from BIS certification on hardware products, to local currency, local language, and cultural insight.”
“The challenge, especially for foreign companies, is understanding the bidding process and business culture within the various regions throughout the country as well as dealing with various languages and time zones,” says Zarivchatska.
Nonetheless, the business environment is extremely positive and the ecosystem that encourages the growth of pro AV is getting better by the day.
“Whilst budgets can be lower than much of the rest of the world, there is a passion for storytelling and the ‘show’ that outweighs the lack of resource,” describes Rockwell. “India’s market features businesses and individuals going over and above to produce something spectacular, and finding ingenious ways to do something that hasn’t been done before.”
Corporate growth driving AV
Most opportunities in India currently reside in the metropolitan cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Deli, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad where pro AV is being designed and implemented. The trend towards rapid urbanisation means cities like these “have become technology hubs” and where corporate AV (occupying 40 per cent of all AV projects) is concentrated, reports Zarivchatska. “These demand high-quality AV solutions for various applications.”
Most opportunities in India currently reside in the metropolitan cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Deli, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad where pro AV is being designed and implemented. The trend towards rapid urbanisation means cities like these “have become technology hubs” and where corporate AV (occupying 40 per cent of all AV projects) is concentrated, reports Zarivchatska. “These demand high-quality AV solutions for various applications.”
The capital, Delhi, requires special attention due to the large amount of government projects including command and control set ups.
“Distributors and integrators have risen to the demand and become more professional as a result and standards have risen,” says Lee.
The transition from traditional, static signage to digital signage has been huge in India, especially in airports and hospitals and there’s a drive from corporate organisations to replace the consumer TVs in their conference and meeting rooms with professional AV products. “This is only set to increase with more government and multinational investment,” says Von Horvath.
“The challenge is reaching the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities like Jaipur and Agra that don’t have the same government support and therefore don’t have the spending power or logistical structure for new AV integration.”
Christie, though, says investment is increasingly flowing to these cities, where convention centres, entertainment and cultural amenities such as museums are being built.
“Pro AV is no longer applicable only to large cities and metropolitan areas,” says Nayar.
For example, it sold 51 units of its 25,000-lumen Crimson series LPs for an install at Kevadia in Gujarat. “Of course, there are challenges in areas such as infrastructure and connectivity, since these developing cities do not offer the convenience of a seamless installation and post-sales support compared to larger and more developed cities,” says Nayar.
The pro AV market as it relates to intercom is still at a fairly under-developed level, reports Clear-Com, although it is starting to see some interest from the corporate sector, convention and exhibition centres in the region.
Hans Chia, regional sales manager (South Asia Pacific), says: “Bringing professional intercom products, especially wireless devices, to such a massive market is an incredible business opportunity and equally a very challenging logistical and commercial task.”
Smart Cities, digital hub
The Smart Cities Mission is an ambitious urban renewal and retrofitting program to develop 100 cities across the country, making them citizen and environmentally friendly, economically strong and sustainable for future populations. When the program was announced in 2015 the Indian government backed it with a multi-billion dollar fund variously reported between $6bn and $15bn over the five years, with a host of extra funding for other urban transformation projects.
The Smart Cities Mission is an ambitious urban renewal and retrofitting program to develop 100 cities across the country, making them citizen and environmentally friendly, economically strong and sustainable for future populations. When the program was announced in 2015 the Indian government backed it with a multi-billion dollar fund variously reported between $6bn and $15bn over the five years, with a host of extra funding for other urban transformation projects.
According to the government, the aim is to treat urbanisation as an opportunity rather than a problem – over 50 Indian cities now have over a million population. Each Smart City has a surveillance initiative involving deployment of products like displays and CCTV. Oracle, Nokia and Ericsson are among multi-nationals to land contracts. The Mission expects tangible results to be seen after 2022.
“Smart city projects all over the country will provide enormous potential for future growth in AV,” says Lee.
One example is for Smart City SASGUJ (Safe & Secure Gujarat) Projects, where more than 20 VuWall controllers are installed in 20 locations. The project includes the installation of a huge network of CCTV cameras in major cities to identify traffic rule offenders, detect crime and reduce illegal activities.
“With a strong focus on control rooms, the initiative to increase urbanisation throughout India is certainly driving demand for AV,” says Zarivchatska.
“India is experiencing a bigger and better data network, which is one of the cheapest in the world,” Jasra says. “The government has also taken the initiative to start a Digital India campaign, encouraging not only digital payments but also digital dissemination of information.”
Banking and Financial Services Inclusion (BFSI), which involves taking banking and financial services into rural areas of India, also includes the deployment of pro AV products.
“India’s education sector is expanding by the day and the installation of touch technology and interactive whiteboards for this vertical is increasing too,” says Jasra. “India’s position as a global software hub also helps us in the pro AV industry, as many software companies are creating user-friendly solutions, thereby increasing the use cases for deployment of products in various other verticals, including in retail, corporate (VC solutions) and hospitality.”
Massive opportunities lie in the fast-paced development of India as it transitions to the world’s technology hub.
“India is a very entrepreneurial community,” says Rockwell. “Foreign businesses wanting to be successful have a responsibility to provide a solid educational framework to cultivate the industry’s next generation. It’ll be these foundations that make India one of the world powers in pro AV technology in the future.”
The first step is all about rapport and relationship. “If you don’t know anyone it’ll be hard to establish credibility. Go visit, meet face to face, eat lunch, drink chai, and make friends!”
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