As rivals crowd the aisles, V-Guard makes a high-stakes push into India’s lighting market

Lighting had been the last major “white space" in V-Guard’s portfolio, a gap that managing director Mithun Chittilappilly says the company could no longer ignore. The move caps a decade-long reinvention for the Kerala-headquartered firm, which once derived nearly all its revenue from stabilizers but has steadily pushed into wires, pumps, switchgear and consumer durables. Lighting, however, remained conspicuously absent, until now.

As V-Guard joins a fiercely competitive category dominated by Signify (Philips), Havells, Syska, among others, and a sprawling, unorganized market, the company’s scale of ambition, pricing, and execution will decide whether lighting becomes its next growth engine or its most testing experiment yet.

“The three large categories within the electrical market are wires, which is the largest, followed by lighting, and then fans. We were already present in two, and are now entering the third one," explained Chittilappilly in a conversation with Mint in Cochin.

V-Guard is now assembling a team, finalizing its initial portfolio, and preparing a phased launch in Kerala and Karnataka by the first quarter of the next fiscal. Unlike many new entrants that begin with commoditised bulbs, the company will focus on higher-margin luminaires – ceiling-integrated fixtures such as COB lights and strip lights.

A shift away from stabilizers

Once known almost entirely as a South India-focused stabilizer brand, V-Guard has spent the past decade broadening its footprint and product mix. Stabilizers, which contributed around 60% of revenue in 2008, now account for roughly 15%. Today, its portfolio spans electronics (stabilizers, UPS, inverters), electricals (wires, pumps, switchgear, modular switches) and consumer durables (water heaters, fans, kitchen appliances, air coolers).

“We were predominantly a stabilizer business, and we always felt like this is something that could go out of relevance as India continues on its electrification journey. Today, our largest category is wires and cables, and we now have multiple segments contributing over ₹600 crore revenue each," Chittilappilly said.

V-Guard is among the few Kerala-born consumer brands to build a truly pan-India presence. Founded in 1977 by Kochouseph Chittilappilly, the company now operates a second headquarters in Gurugram to strengthen its presence outside the south and deepen its talent base. Non-southern markets account for 49% of revenue today, while Kerala and Karnataka remain its largest individual markets at about 15% each.

In FY25, consolidated revenue rose 14.8% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹5,578 crore and net profit increased 21.8% to ₹313.7 crore. Q2FY26 was more subdued, with revenue up 3.6% YoY to ₹1,340.92 crore and net profit rising 3% to ₹65.29 crore, though gross margins improved to 37.6%, up 140 basis points.

Why lighting, and why now

For all its expansion, not playing in lighting had begun to create vulnerabilities at the retail level. “We found that some of our distributors and retailers were adding other brands in the lighting category. Once you allow someone to come in, they will definitely start using shelf space," Chittilappilly said.

Lighting is also a natural adjacency: V-Guard estimates a roughly 90% overlap between its distribution for wires, switches and switchgear and the lighting category. That allows the company to plug into an existing network instead of building one from scratch.

Industry analysts also see a strategic opportunity.

“Most categories in this space hit saturation at around ₹8,000–12,000 crore and are highly fragmented. To grow, a company can either become pan-India, which demands heavy brand investment, or expand its product base by leveraging its loyal consumers, trade channels, and service network. This dynamic is driven by the very low barriers to entry in the industry," said Karan Bhatia, partner at EY-Parthenon.

India's LED lighting market is estimated at $11.56 billion in 2025 and projected to reach $16.63 billion by 2030, according to Mordor Intelligence.

But the category is intensely crowded, brand loyalty is weak, and switching costs for consumers are negligible. Competitors include Signify (Philips), Havells, Crompton, Surya Roshni, Bajaj Electricals, Syska and Wipro Lighting, along with a large unbranded segment. Signify remains the biggest player, with ₹3,143 crore in total income and ₹270 crore in net profit in FY25.

Chittilappilly estimates that about 50% of the market remains unorganized. That’s one reason the company is zeroing in on luminaires, specifically functional luminaires. Mordor Intelligence reports that luminaires and fixtures accounted for 61.9% of revenue in 2024, and the segment is structurally more profitable.

“Consumers want a reliable brand here because they don’t want to tear up their ceilings every time a bulb runs out. Margins are better, and it’s not a mass-distribution game where you simply offer a cheaper price or a higher retailer margin. The key to win profitably in lighting is functional luminaires," said Bhatia.

A measured approach to acquisitions

V-Guard plans to outsource manufacturing initially before investing in its own plants, consistent with its strategy in other categories. It is also open to acquiring a design-led lighting company.

“While we can organically build out this category, we are looking for a good opportunity. Lighting is a design-driven segment, and if we find a firm that has design capability from an R&D point of view, we would like to have that. We are not looking at buying revenue," Chittilappilly said.

The company’s acquisition record has been mixed. Its 2017 purchase of Guts Electromech strengthened its switchgear play, and acquiring the Indian business of Spain’s Simon Group helped build a ₹250 crore switches and switchgear vertical. But its ₹660 crore purchase of Sunflame in 2023 has underperformed so far: Sunflame’s FY25 revenue fell 7.2% YoY to ₹254.38 crore, though Q2FY26 saw a modest 3.4% YoY recovery.

Chittilappilly concedes this has been a tougher integration than expected. The distribution network for kitchen appliances differed sharply from V-Guard’s core channels, limiting the speed of scale-up. Lighting, he says, will be far smoother: “There is a 90% overlap in distribution when it comes to the lighting category with our current network. Most of the large retailers for lighting are already selling other electrical products of V-Guard, so the entry barrier is much lower."

Macroeconomic trends reinforce his optimism. A Grant Thornton report shows residential sales in major cities surged nearly 77% during FY19-25. As India’s housing, renovation and urban development cycles accelerate, luminaires are becoming the default choice in homes. Technology and design are central to this shift, and V-Guard is building a 100,000 sq. ft R&D campus in Cochin to support product innovation across categories, including lighting.

If the company executes well, lighting could help V-Guard finally complete its electricals playbook. But Chittilappilly isn’t easing up: he is targeting at least 15% annual growth over the next five years. “We are still diversifying. We are still getting into categories, which are growing faster."