Developing and manufacturing lighting technology for the automotive Special OE Industry: HELLA India Lighting Ltd.

Road safety is a major issue in developing countries like India. Owing to the unsafe conditions on roads, the rate of accidents in India has been high. Road accidents remain a serious impediment to sustainable human development and continue to cause a critical social and economic problem in the country. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to improve the safety standards in operation and maintenance of roads. It is equally important to focus on production and maintenance of safer vehicles.

HELLA India Lighting Ltd. believes that road traffic accidents can be prevented and the priority to halt this appalling and avoidable rise in road injury is high. Thus, with a strong focus on safety products, HELLA India Lighting Ltd. (HIL) deals in manufacturing and marketing of automotive lighting and safety electrical products which services CV and other Special Original Equipment (SOE) segments like off highway, agro, construction equipment and 2/3 wheelers, etc. It is leveraging the access to German-technology to solve local traffic visibility problems on Indian Roads by developing “Local for Local” products built at local costs. HELLA India Lighting Ltd. is a public limited company promoted and principally held by one of the world’s leading auto component supplier HELLA, Germany.

Lighting solutions from Hella: Getting off the ground

Vehicle lighting was the very first field that allowed HELLA to grow, so there is still a close association between the HELLA brand and lighting of various kinds. The company offers a wide range of products covering all aspects of vehicle lighting, from headlamps and combination rear lamps to signal lamps, interior lamps and lighting electronics. Its development activities currently focus on features and technologies expected to be important in the future, generating benefits that customers can see and touch, such as light-based driver assistance systems, LEDs and design elements.

Position in the market

Known for setting global standards for quality, customer orientation, the HELLA group in India has created a niche for itself in both international and domestic market as a supplier to leading vehicle manufacturers. HELLA has its presence across major automobile hubs in India with five locations- two manufacturing locations in Dhankot near Gurgaon, Derabassi near Chandigarh, one Global Electronics Development Centre in Pune, one Engineering Centre in Chennai and one Independent Aftermarket location in UdyogVihar, Gurgaon. HELLA introduces a comprehensive range of quality automotive parts and accessories, both for OEM’s and Independent Aftermarket.

The HELLA Group develops and manufactures lighting technology and electronic components and systems for the automotive industry and also has one of the largest retail organizations for automotive parts, accessories, diagnostics, and services within Europe. Complete vehicle modules, air-conditioning systems, and vehicle electrical systems are also produced in joint venture companies. With more than 6,000 people working in research and development, HELLA is one of the most important innovation drivers on the market.

Innovative Lighting Systems

Since vehicle lighting is of crucial importance to the safety of everyone on the road, HELLA develops innovative lighting systems that offer a high level of driving comfort while also providing optimum illumination of the road ahead.

• Headlamps

Ever since cars were invented, HELLA has been setting innovation milestones and pursuing a forward-looking approach to lighting products and systems. It focuses on enhancing both driving comfort and safety, plus the attractive design of HELLA lighting products lets manufacturers achieve specific vehicle designs and positioning strategies.

• Interior lighting – a combination of comfort and function

LEDs are becoming more and more popular as light sources in the field of interior lighting, as in other sectors. Already a long-established fixture of the instrument panel, these lights can now also be used for interior lighting and reading lamps, thus opening up a whole range of decorative design possibilities for the cockpit.

• Rear Combination Lamps

Especially for combination rear lamps, manufacturers are exploring the many options available when LEDs can be combined with optical systems to create attractive and distinctive vehicle designs.

• Car body lighting: Diverse safety lighting

The product group of car body lighting combines all products of the exterior vehicle lighting, except headlamps and rear combination lamps. HELLA offers a comprehensive portfolio of fog lamps, daytime running lights and front combination lamps. Rear fog lights, center high mounted stop lamps, additional turn indicators, rear signal lamps and license plate lamps belong to this product group, too.

Looking ahead to the future

HELLA India Lighting has set up its company vision to impact the aspect of traffic recognition. The latest death toll figures show that there are almost 1.5 lakh deaths due to road accidents. This issue is of prime importance to HIL. So, the company envisions to create and unlock a new value paradigm for end consumers. The safety essentials during night – to see and to be seen – is of great importance. Looking at the number of road accidents, the increasing death toll and the social and economic impact, HELLA is committed to road safety through its company vision. HIL has launched safety enabling products and tries to increase awareness of safety critical do’s and don’ts and actively engages with related non-governmental organizations and governmental departments.

HIL is also exporting its locally made LED products to developed countries such as US, Singapore, Australia, Germany, UAE, etc. In addition to registering a recurrent double digit yearly growth, the company is now aspiring to contribute 10% reduction in road accidents in the country by 2020.

Meet the man behind HELLA India Lighting Ltd.

Ramashankar Pandey, Managing Director: Ramashankar has more than 20 years of Entrepreneurial and “Turn Around” experience in the Auto Component Industry having versatile experience, both in OEM and Aftermarket Industry fields. As a BOSCH & Timken Alumni, his core area of interest is “Technology” and “People Development”. He was the topper of his batch at NIT Calicut and University Rank Holder in his engineering.

He joined Hella Asia Singapore in 2006 to lead its Indian Aftermarket start-up and later joined the board of Hella’s Indian manufacturing unit, Hella India Lighting Ltd. in 2009. Giving a new vision altogether, “Technology of Tomorrow for the Life of Today on Indian Roads”, he achieved the Business Model Innovation for the company and won many industry recognitions. Under his leadership, Hella India Lighting has also been recognized as Most Innovative Enterprise in India in the mid-size manufacturing companies’ category by CII.

“We strive to offer the perfect union of performance-oriented professionalism and teamwork built on trust. At HELLA, we believe that this approach is key to helping our company achieve healthy and successful long-term growth, along with an authentic awareness of values and superior performance.”