Interview with Industrial Business Mart,July 2012 by Mr. Babu T K

ON FACE
“We are committed to keep our Planet
Green and conserve our Scarce Energy
Resources”
Babu T K
CEO, Elmeasure India Pvt Ltd
Read this article online at
http://www.ezinemart.com/ibm
48 industrial business MART July 2012

Babu TK, CEO of Elmeasure India Pvt Ltd, graduated from Calicut
University in 1986. His past work experience includes working for the
reputed scientific research institution, Raman research institute. Some
important projects completed during his three year tenure are a high
angular resolution optical interferometery project, stepper motor control,
vibration testing of an optical delay line etc,. After which he was
involved in the research and development field at several companies
for a span of 13 years and has gained complete exposure in electrical
and process management system.
Elmeasure, a small insignificant company has been catapulted into a
global brand in the electrical metering segment under his able leadership.
In a short span of six years, He established three manufacturing
units with annual capacity of 300,000 meters and plans are being
drafted to have a manufacturing setup in the UAE to cater to Elmeasure’s
export market. The company has evolved in several key areas
and today Elmeasure is considered a global technology leader in the
metering segment.
Elmeasure, under Babu’s capable leadership, has delivered several
technologically advanced products, which have had the accolade of
being a first in India. Also under his leadership, several key acquisitions
were completed like VAF digital meters Pvt. Ltd., Adiga transformer,
Bright Electronics etc., all these companies that performed poorly
prior to the acquisition are now profitable companies within a short
span of 1-2 years.
Babu TK has received the Rashtriya Udyoga Ratna award with a gold
medal for outstanding entrepreneurship by Indian Organization for
Business Research and Development and Nobel India Award with gold
medal for individual contribution for nation development. Babu’s
leadership goes well beyond business economics and in his efforts to
build the nation, he has actively contributed of his time and resources
in the social segment. He is an active board member of several nonprofit
organizations and actively involved in the day to day affairs in
uplifting the poor and needy. He is a member for Federation of Karnataka
Chambers of Commerce and Industry and trainer for TEST (Traffic
Engineers and Safety Trainers) for Bangalore unit. He has been blessed
with his wife Bindu and two children Rachel and Reni.
Tell us something about the energy management-
how important it is in recent
time. What are the solutions El Measure
is offering to its clients?
The power scenario in India is scarce
and costly. With the rapid growth of
Industry, additional power generation
is planned by government may not be
adequate and this situation is expected
to continue for several years to come.
Half of the energy produced in the World
is consumed by INDUSTRY and hence we
started developing an Energy Management
System (EMS) for industry, the
concerns were equipment breakdowns,
process interruptions, equipment efficiency,
production loss etc., Hence we
focused on products which can monitor,
record and control. ElMeasure has
a strong team with many years of rich
experience and expertise in this field.
ELNet is Elmeasure’s Energy Management
System (EMS), distributed PC
based and Web based data acquisition
and monitoring software tool used to
check the performance of electric utility
grids to monitor and optimize the
performance of the generation and/or
transmission system. This system is
used in any organization to achieve
energy efficiency through well laid out
procedures and methods, and to ensure
continual improvement, which will
spread awareness of energy efficiency
throughout an entire organization. The
system will collect all electrical data
like Voltage, Amps, Power factor, THD,
Individual harmonics, peak demands
from multifunction meters that enables
necessary actions and correction at right
time. ELNet is a Client Server based EMS,
user can access the data online or offline
and even generate the reports from any
PC in Local Area Network. There are four
different modules available in the system
called as Configuration, Online, Data log
and Reports
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Energy Billing System (EBS) is a standard
feature available in the ELNet software.
This feature is widely used in commercial
complexes, Shopping malls, residential
buildings, Apartments or gated community.
Here software will also take care of
both grid and Generator supply if dual
source energy meters are networked.
Miscellaneous cost calculation is taken
care in the EBS with respect to the Area
of shop/house. Consolidated and any
single meter energy bill can be generated
using the EBS. Software will also
keep track of payment made for the
generated bills.
Some of the Industries have their manufacturing
location at different part of
the world. Our Web enabled software
enables the Industry from different location
to simultaneously measure, monitor
and control. Web enabled software also
helps consumer to utilise the expertise
of third party by looking at the report/
trends seen through Internet. Elmeasure
offers maintaining the data base with
Elmeasure server and give technical
evaluation and remedy across the globe
from our Head office at Bangalore.
We offer different media of communication
to collect the data from any
brand of meter and prepare a report
to management in terms of efficiency,
productivity, excess usage, breakdown
warning etc.
Can you put more light on Building Management
System, the latest offering by
ElMeasure?
We are living in a world where incorporating
technology such as automation
at home and workplace is becoming a
universal expectation. This is made practical
with the power and exhilaration of
the digital world. A Building Management
System (BMS) is a computer-based
control system installed in buildings that
controls and monitors the building’s
mechanical, process and electrical equipment
such as ventilation, lighting, power
systems, fire systems, and security
systems.
We have given solution to industry to
integrate process parameters along
with electrical parameters in our Energy
management system where as the user
has to depend on two different entity
for automation. Any industrial building
/ houses need to have automation,
remote monitoring and control, alarms
etc. What we offer is BEMS (Building
Energy Management solution), which
is unique which are accessible/ controllable
from multiple location/hierarchy.
Whereas any other solution today is only
BMS with energy management monitored
separately with single location
control. Elmeasure use expertise of our
energy management with expertise of
Japanese technology for Building management.
For any points below 5000,
Elmeasure can offer very cost effective,
more reliable, multiple levels of monitoring
and control.
What is the reason for tying up with
Japanese Company for Building Management
System (BMS)?
Japan is our major export market;
they have recognized our products
for technological advantage of Energy
50 industrial business MART July 2012

management, customization and quality.
We derive the best result and feature by
choosing latest platform chip and were
acknowledged by a Japanese company
who is BMS expert. They have partnered
with us for their BEMS using our expertise
in energy management and we used
their expertise in building management
for mutual benefit. Though we do not
have much marketing strategies as none
of our senior management staff are from
that background yet we look forward to
put all our efforts to make it a success
using product technology and features
to speak for us. We were anyway in the
lookout for diversification and if suited
both of us to have this win win situation.
Since 2004, tell us something about
the start and the success stories of the
company.
Our journey over the past years has been
incredible on many fronts. Our journey
tells the tale of a small unheard company
that beat every odd of survival, and built
an international brand name within few
years. We were a small group of people
that came together for a common purpose
of conserving energy and helping
our society. In our quest to conserve
energy, Elmeasure put out a basket
of products that were technologically
advanced, defied industry standards,
with software to provide state of the
art energy management solutions to
our customers. During the early days,
one of our competitors could not accept
our early success and tried to destroy
us by every brutal method possible,
but through adversity, we focused our
thoughts and actions to become stronger.
Our determination and our hard work
put out products and features like the
intelligent earth leakage relay, power
distribution system, analog input/output,
digital input/output and a host of other
products and features that were a first
in India. Every year Elmeasure made it a
point to bring new and innovative products
into the market to suit the needs
of our diverse global customer base. As
a socially responsible company, we put
thought into action by actively involving
ourselves in the social sector and uplifting
the poor and needy. Today, we stand
as a leader in the energy management
sector, looking to conquer many more
milestones in the future. We are proud
to be an energy management company
that uses its resources and technological
knowledge to keep our planet green and
conserve our scarce energy resources.
July 2012 industrial business MART 51

Prepaid Meter
What are the key sectors where El Measure
Products and Solutions have been
installed?
The growth of any economy is to a large
extent powered by energy. Therefore
any operation electricity dependent and
there is relaxed attitude in the management
and on how energy is consumed
in India. In India, there is a growing gap
between supply and demand for power.
The Government of India has also passed
Energy Bill that emphasizes the need of
energy conservation. Constant monitoring
of electrical parameters such as
voltage, current, frequency, energy,
power, etc., will go a long way in optimizing
energy utilization. It is important
to remember that energy is scarce and
expensive. Therefore, it must be used
efficiently. Where the volume of production
is high, measurement of energy usage
through a panel becomes significant.
Measurement of energy usage will help
detect areas of wastage and facilitate
taking corrective measures.
Elmeasure with this in mind has designed
and developed products that are ideal
for any Industry or Service sector that
are large energy consumers, having large
monitoring area, multiple distanced locations
and facing frequent breakdowns/
production interruptions. Elmeasure has
contributed its service to Application-
Industries like Aeronautics, Automobile,
Cement/ Building Material, Chemical,
Engineering, FMCG, Food, Beverage &
Distillery, Genset Manufacturing, Watch
Manufacturing, Glass, Paper, Pharmaceuticals,
Steel/ Foundry, Sugar, Textile/Spinning,
Refinery, Tea etc. It also has made
an impact on service and other Sectors
like Airport, Information Technology,
Power generating Station, Telecom,
News Paper, Commercial /Residential
Complex, Educational Institute, Banking,
Hospital, Hotels etc.,
PDU Advantages: Any Multi function
meter measures one channel of 3 phase
voltage, current, Power and energy.
But in the space critical environment
(like data centers) 9 separate panels
are required to keep the multi function
devices. But ElMeasure took a challenge
on reducing the space and accommodate
3 channels (3 set) of 3 phase info in
one single multifunction device. This has
major advantages of cost and space and
also reduces work involved to connect
multiple meters.
Generally in data centers / multiple
device panels 3 phase voltage levels are
same and only the load connected to
it varies. ElMeasure’s enPDU took this
advantage. Connected only one set of
voltage and 3 sets of 3 phase CTs (totally
9 CTs) for measurement. The major
sectors installed are Telecom and Data
Centers.
What are the new and forthcoming innovations
launched by El Measure?
We are the first one to come out in this
industrial segment to have up gradation
of firmware remotely, keeping in mind
the BEMS. Since our export has tripled
last year and we intend to multiply in
the coming years, we have implemented
remote firmware up gradation for our
product like PDU (Power distribution
Product), eNavigator series, and Power
Navigator series. New generation of
demand monitor / demand controllers
are with TFT touch screen displays giving
the flexibility for user to view demand
trend, waveform, harmonic distortion
waveform, hourly energy trend etc on
the screen without going through the
system.
Prepaid meter with built in relay is another
innovation from ElMeasure. It uses RF
card for charging the currency avoiding
the complexity of entering multiple
digit or swipe. We offer up to 60A built
in relay dual source prepaid meter with
options feature like RS 485, Data logging
etc
ABT (availability Based tariff meter)
meter is the new introduction from
Elmeasure. Though India has one Grid
system for the entire nation, managing
the flow of energy should have been
controlled from one location though
the ABT meters bought from different
manufacturer. However the different
manufacturers keep different register
map for ABT slots and the software is
totally different. They do not share the
register map or software to accommodate
different brand of meter for their
selfish motive of monopoly. We have
developed ABT meter with software
which can communicate with different
brand of ABT meters making the service
provider with maximum flexibility and
better control of grid.
How is the global as well as Indian mar-
Marvel i200 (TFT Model)
52 industrial business MART July 2012

keting scenario?
Though the global economy has slowed
down, Indian industries are not much
affected but only cautioned at this point
of time. Probably in another nine months
time we would come out of the situation
of caution spending. One of the
major facts for this cautious spending is
Rupee devaluation; once this is stabilized
industries would come further to make
investment. Certain sector like power,
education, hospitals and even reality
segments continues to grow and make
substantial contribution.
Already we had taken the first step in
global expansion by setting up on Sales
office at Sharjah. Our global operations
will include extending our sales and
dealer network across the gulf region
and Southeast Asia immediately, following
which we would like to extend
our global footprint across the other
continents.
El Measure has recently started an office
at Sharjah. Tell us how this will help to
expand the business network? Whats the
volume of revenue you expect to generate
from Middle East region?
With seven years of proven products has
helped us to make our significant presence
in the global market and we have
multiplied in the last three years. We
had planned to have a manufacturing
unit at UAE to cater the growing demand
from the international market. Due to
economic slowdown we have postponed
the plan and we have opened an office
space in the Sharjah free zone. This will
ABT Meter
allow us to reach the Middle East and
neighboring countries. We have our
sales engineer in Saudi and Middle East
to increase the market share. We expect
to triple our revenue in this financial year
from Middle East region.
What are the initiatives El Measure has
July 2012 industrial business MART 53

taken to attain Corporate Social Responsibility?
The common goal and vision of our organization
has always been to serve society
and to create a positive impact on
the environment, consumers, employees
and public though our activities. A major
portion of the profits are dedicated to
the charity organization managed by
our parent company at Coimbatore,
which runs an orphanage and a school
extending free or subsidized education
to nearly 500 underprivileged children.
As a part of our activity we had organized
blood donation camp in association
with Indian Red Cross Society. There was
an overwhelming response from our
staff as well as from the residents of the
neighborhood.
All the ElMeasurians contributed in cash
and kind to help the underprivileged
children of a Blind school and support
the Old Age Home run by the Missionaries
of Charity.
To help contribute for a greener tomorrow
we had an Email campaign launched
to highlight the benefits of environmental
protection and energy conservation.
What are the future plans/ diversification
if any?
Our company has grown 70 to 100
percent every year. We are already on
target to achieve 50 crores sales for the
financial year 2012 -2013. We are confident
to cross the 100 crores mark by
the year 2014. We hope to achieve this
target by broadening our product base,
provide solution based engineering, and
acquisitions.
Today Elmeasure is an international
company that boasts of 4 manufacturing
units and staff strength of over 300
employees. Our manufacturing units are
located in Bangalore, Coimbatore, and
Dehradun with a total production capacity
of 300,000 meters annually. Our 5th
manufacturing location will be started in
the UAE to cater to our export market.
Sitting at this milestone, plans are being
made for a future that seems to even
amaze us at times. A growth strategy
has been plotted for Elmeasure for the
next five years. Vertical Integration,
acquisitions, product development, and
new horizons in product offerings are
part of the plan being designed for the
future.
54 industrial business MART July 2012