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

Lighting was the last major “white space” in V-Guard’s portfolio; It was a gap that managing director Mithun Chittilappilly said the company could no longer ignore. The move caps a decade-long restructuring of the Kerala-based firm, which once earned almost all its revenue from stabilizers but has steadily diversified into cables, pumps, switchgear and consumer durables. However, lighting was conspicuously absent until now.

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

“The three big categories in the electrical market are wires, which is the biggest, then lighting and then fans. We were already in two categories and now we are entering the third category,” said Chittilappilly. Mint In Cochin.

V-Guard is now building a team, finalizing its initial portfolio and preparing for a phased launch in Kerala and Karnataka in the first quarter of the next fiscal. Unlike many startups that start with commercialized light bulbs, the company will focus on higher-margin fixtures such as ceiling-integrated fixtures such as COB lights and strip lights.

Moving away from stabilizers

Once known as a stabilizer brand almost entirely focused on South India, V-Guard has spent the last decade expanding its footprint and product range. Stabilizers, which contributed about 60% of revenue in 2008, now account for roughly 15%. Today its portfolio includes electronics (stabilizers, UPS, inverters), electrical (cables, pumps, switchgear, modular switches) and consumer durables (water heaters, fans, kitchen appliances, air coolers).

“We were predominantly a stabilizing business and we always felt that this was something we could be interested in as India continues its electrification journey. Our largest category today is wires and cables and we have multiple segments contributing now. ₹“Each of them generates revenue of ₹600 crore,” Chittilappilly said.

V-Guard is among the few Kerala-born consumer brands that have established 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-south markets account for 49% of revenue today, while Kerala and Karnataka remain its largest individual markets with around 15% share each.

Consolidated revenue increased by 14.8% YoY in FY25. ₹5,578 crore and net profit up 21.8% ₹313.7 crore. The second quarter of 2026 was calmer, with revenues increasing by 3.6% year-on-year. ₹1,340.92 crore and net profit up 3% ₹65.29 crore, though the gross margin increased by 140 basis points to 37.6%.

Why lighting and why now?

For all its expansion, not playing around with lighting was starting to create vulnerabilities at the retail level. “We have seen some of our distributors and retailers add other brands to the lighting category. Once you let someone in, they will definitely start using the shelf space,” Chittilappilly said.

Lighting is also a natural adjacency: V-Guard estimates there is approximately a 90% overlap between cables, switches and switchgear distribution and the lighting category. This allows the company to connect to an existing network rather than building one from scratch.

Industry analysts also see a strategic opportunity.

“Most categories in this space have reached near saturation ₹8,000-12,000 crore and it is quite fragmented. To grow, a company can either become pan-India, which requires heavy brand investment, or expand its product base by leveraging its loyal consumers, trade channels and service network. “This dynamic is driven by the fact that the barriers to entry into the industry are very low,” said Karan Bhatia, partner at EY-Parthenon.

According to Mordor Intelligence, India’s LED lighting market is estimated to be $11.56 billion by 2025 and is expected to reach $16.63 billion by 2030.

However, the category is extremely 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, as well as a large unbranded segment. Signify remains the biggest player ₹3,143 crore in total revenue and ₹270 crore net profit in FY25.

Chittilappilly estimates that around 50% of the market is unorganized. This is one reason why the company focuses on fixtures, especially functional fixtures. Mordor Intelligence reported that lighting fixtures and fixtures accounted for 61.9% of revenue in 2024, making the segment structurally more profitable.

“Consumers want a reliable brand here because they don’t want to break their ceiling every time they run out of bulbs. Margins are better and it’s not a mass distribution game where you just offer a cheaper price or a higher retailer margin. The key to winning profitably in lighting is functional fixtures,” Bhatia said.

A measured approach to acquisitions

Consistent with its strategy in other categories, V-Guard plans to initially outsource production before investing in its own facilities. It is also open to acquiring a design-focused lighting company.

“Although we can create this category organically, we are looking for a good opportunity. Lighting is a design-focused segment and if we find a company with design capacity in terms of R&D, we would like to own it. We are not looking at acquisition revenue,” Chittilappilly said.

The company’s purchasing records are mixed. Its acquisition of Guts Electromech in 2017 strengthened its switchgear play and its acquisition of Spain’s Simon Group’s business in India ₹250 crore switches and vertical switchgear. But its ₹660-crore Sunflame acquisition in 2023 has underperformed so far: Sunflame’s FY25 revenue down 7.2% YoY ₹254.38 crore, but the second quarter saw a modest year-on-year improvement of 3.4%.

Chittilappilly admits it was a more challenging integration than expected. The kitchen appliance distribution network differed sharply from V-Guard’s main channels, limiting the speed of scale-up. He says lighting will be much smoother: “There is a 90% overlap in distribution when it comes to the lighting category with our existing network. Most of the major retailers for lighting already sell V-Guard’s other electrical products, so the barrier to entry is much lower.”

Macroeconomic trends strengthen his optimism. The Grant Thornton report shows that home sales in major cities increased by nearly 77% in FY 2019-25. As India’s housing, renovation and urban development cycles accelerate, fixtures are becoming the default choice in homes. Technology and design are at the heart of this change, and V-Guard is building a 100,000 square meter R&D campus in Cochin to support product innovation across categories, including lighting.

If the company performs well, lighting could help V-Guard finally complete its electrical playbook. But Chittilappilly is not relaxing: it is aiming for annual growth of at least 15% over the next five years. “We’re still diversifying. We’re still getting into faster-growing categories.”