Incorporated in 1992, Windsor Cables is today a leading manufacturer of cables, power cords and wire harnesses for home appliances, automotive and mobile brands. DeviceNext had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Sidharth Nagpal, Director, Windsor Cables Pvt. Ltd., who talked about the brand’s journey and growth strategies.
Here’s an excerpt from the interaction.
Please brief us about the journey of Windsor Cables in the mobile accessories segment.
Windsor cables was incorporated in 1992. Since then we have been primarily into making power cables for the government contracts, and today we cater to industries beyond B2G. From 2017, we’ve forayed into developing a few other products, such as, wiring harnesses, primarily for the automotive industry. That has been a different value add to the cable segment with the help of which we started manufacturing power-cords that are used in the home appliances. Today, this similar infrastructure has helped us to manufacture data cables for the mobile industry.
What are the product lines that are being developed from your manufacturing facility. We are fully stocked with all types of cables, for instance, we’ve developed a 65 W cable, which is a USB-to-C type 65 Watt cable that is compatible with the new OnePlus or Nothing phones as well. The 65W cable can charge the phone in less than 30 minutes. We’re also manufacturing the 20W Type-C to lightning connector cables, which is a rare find in the market. Then there’s a C-to-C cable capable of 30W, or 65W, or both of them. These are the
different types of cables that we manufacture. We're also making a Type-C to female aux connector, which helps in connecting to phones without an audio jack. We have a big variety of modes that we're doing, such as TPE cables, which brands are currently liking. Our expertise is in providing various types of modifications due to our backward integration. Be it the color, the texture, or the breeding grade, we are capable in developing new customized cables for the brands. Now the brands are not restricted to select from our current portfolio, because, as per their requirement we can easily develop customized cables that look absolutely different or deliver a better performance than those available in the market.
What is the growth roadmap that you have planned for Windsor Cables?
We were working with an upwards of 20 brands at one point. However, we have had to cut it down because we wanted to be working with those brands that actually demand quality only. We have shied away from brands that were only looking at the price point. Though, we actually offer the best price but then there are some who like to compromise. So our roadmap is to incorporate only those brands that have the same policy like us when it comes to the goal of keeping quality on top of the mind. We just don’t want to do only numbers, we want to be sure of the product before we give it to VAR and consumer as well. So we’re looking to incorporate about four to five brands, to whom we want to supply our products. And we want to offer them a bigger wider portfolio from our end.
Please tell about the SKUs you’re working on and how you are expanding your manufacturing facility and capability to cater to the demands for 2023.
Currently, we have about 50 SKUs for data cables itself. Going forward, we are introducing a few new products like the HDMI cable, or even the computer, laptop and printer power cords. We are increasing the SKUs as we speak. But if you speak about the production capacities, we are currently manufacturing about 10,000 cables a day, which we want to touch 20,000 mark by end of the year. As we already have the machines, we will not need to increase our infrastructure. However, a bigger facility is what we're looking at. We have an expansion plan, and we will be shifting our base from Delhi to Sohna, near Gurgaon. Our new facility, which is coming up will be approximately 60,000 sq. ft.
Most of the manufacturers are facing a challenge due to China’s import problem and other geopolitical issues. How are you working around these challenges?
Obviously, we do face such issues also, but they become very rare because of our supply chain that we have sorted out. We don’t procure raw material just looking at the demand, and then we look at at least three quarters to stock up as per that. So, a brand will never face an issue with us because for nine months they will have the products in line already at our end. Because of the backward integration that we’ve already incorporated, we are not very highly dependent on the Chinese for our products.
From your perspective, what are the changes you’re seeing in the Indian market for cable manufacturers.
In the last few years a lot has changes in the cables segment. Consumers were charging their phones with the basic cables that were provided by the mobile phone manufacturer. But in the recent past, people have been upgrading their cables because of the time constraints. As the phone’s battery capacity has increased and so has the time to charge, so consumers want fast charge even when they are on the move. Be it for a power bank or wireless charger, the cable industry has evolved and that’s where we add value to the cables. Back then cable was just an accessory to the phone. Now, it’s a necessity, and you cannot move around with
without a premium cable.
On a closing note, any comment about the government policies for the manufacturers or your reaction to the current budget?
The government has recently reduced the duties on some components, which will definitely help us cater to the end consumer more. Because, the benefits of relaxation on the import duties are directly passed to the consumer only because of how price sensitive our market is. As the government is promoting the Make in India initiative, they are helping us manufacturers in one way or another. We are definitely quite pumped to continue our journey and develop more products in India to completely reduce the dependency on China.
