KBL has always been committed to sustainability and continually strives towards adopting and developing new technologies to reduce the environmental impact arising from its manufacturing operations.
Vikas Agarwal, Vice President – Water, Irrigation and B&C Industrial Verticals, KBL

Kirloskar Brothers Limited (KBL) has been among the pioneers of industrial revolution in India. Apart from introducing many firsts, KBL is also the first manufacturer of centrifugal pumps in the country. Vikas Agarwal, Vice President – Water, Irrigation and B&C Industrial Verticals, KBL speaks to B2B Purchase and gives an overview about KBL’s role in the overall growth of the pump segment in India. Edited excerpts:

What role has KBL played in the overall growth of the pump segment in India?
The growing pump industry is giving rise to new set of challenges with respect to customer requirements and expectations, be it in terms of the large volume handling, high discharge head, HP ratings, solid handling and the latest is efficiency sustainable design requirements of a pump. Primarily, in the water segment, the focus, demand and challenges were of pumping raw and clear water but slowly it is adding to transferring large volume of raw sewage. As we move forward, the industry is witnessing a paradigm shift from challenges related to products to those related to comprehensive systems developed for critical projects like water supply, irrigation and power projects. Thus, KBL has been contributing to to the overall growth of the pump segment as a solution provider and not as product supplier, considering its fluid management capabilities and past reference projects Most of the major pumping schemes in the country were executed by KBL.

The company continues to account for the highest market share in the Indian pumping industry even today and is among the global market leaders. However, with the changing time and challenges, the company’s thought process evolving. Over the last few decades, the challenges have increased with the upsurge of demand. However, KBL accepted the challenges and resolved them. For instance, the global pump designs which we were earlier buying from American and European companies are now available in India. The best example of the same being the FM/UL pumps. KBL was the first and probably the only Indian manufacturing company to receive

FM approval for its manufacturing unit and products. This means that all the FM/UL-listed products are designed in accordance with the globally accepted norms.

The MNCs, when they first came to India, realised that there were companies like KBL offering global standard products in the country. This reflects KBL’s role in shifting the perception of foreign companies about India and thereby in India’s progress. As KBL started developing the same pump designs in India, customers did not have to look for European or American companies to buy those pumps. In this way, KBL played an indispensable part in the growth of the pump industry.

Which type of pump is highly in demand in the Indian market?
A pump, in some or the other way, is crucial for meeting most of the basic human needs, be it water, food, shelter, power or electricity. Now, for housing, you need electricity and to generate electricity, you need a pump. Similarly, the requirement of water in all the industries is indispensable. And again, water cannot be delivered without a pump. So, basically, the demand for all types of pumps in any segment, irrespective of the situation and period, has always been high.

However, of all these segments, demand is the highest in the water market – be it clear water, raw water or distribution network, the water handling pumps are in high demand accounting for 60-70 per cent of the market share in India, followed by these wage and dewatering pumps. Almost, 70-80 per cent of the overall market is occupied by water handling pumps.

Also, the type of pump that garners the highest demand differs from country to country, depending on the prevailing conditions, water needs and availability. For instance, in the Gulf region, the desalination pumps are in high demand. On the contrary, in a country like India, sewage, raw and clear water handling pumps are in great demand.

What do you consider as your cutting-edge technology? Discuss your recent technological advancements in the sector.
When we talk about “Green Bharat or Green Products,”power saving is very important. Now, as a thumb rule, almost one-fifth of the electricity produced is being consumed by pump and pumping systems. KBL has always been committed to sustainability and continually strives towards adopting and developing new technologies to reduce the environmental impact arising from its manufacturing operations.

Kirlosmart: The introduction of the Kirlosmart technology, a remote monitoring system, has been one of the most significant technological developments by KBL over the years. Kirlosmart is designed to remotely monitor the condition of the pump and facilitate preventive maintenance of the pumping systems by evaluating how efficiently and effectively can the pump be used.

PAT: The launch of the (PAT) Pump as Turbine is another technological benchmark achieved by KBL recently. Now, generally, a pump is used to deliver water, however, in case of a PAT, a pump is used to generate electricity. It works in such a way that through the same pipeline via which we are delivering water through gravity, we can generate electricity as well. A few examples are Tansa Dam where we supplied PAT to MGCM, Mumbai, we supplied to Shatin a project in Hongkong and GNFC Baruch, where we replaced PRVC with PAT.

Customised solar pumps: Of late, our focus on solar- driven pumps has augmented given the government’s energy push. We had developed up to 30 kW solar pumps. Our trademark Jalverter technology can be used to run any type of solar pump through solar energy with no requirement of battery backup or inverters.

How does water and construction sector help KBL to be the most prevalent brand across the industry?
KBL is aligning its product offerings through its solutions in these segments, which come with high-reliability and help customers to save space and energy. With these pumps, in these respective segments, we are offering ‘Life to Water.’ These products have been in the Indian market for the last 70-80 years. In water segment, we had supplied more than 1, 00,000 pumps in more than 100 municipal units, which talks volumes about their reliability. One of the most note-worthy examples of the same being our CVP pump designs, which do not need any stand-by pump, which saves a lot of space and spare part cost. This clearly reflects their high-brand reliability and affordability in terms of its lifecycle cost.