ZUG (SWITZERLAND): Even as stiff resistance to the installation of digital meters in power and other public utilities across India is continuing, Landis & Gyr, a leading digital meter supplier to power utilities in the energy sector, has announced plans for tapping the digital power meters market in India that is expected to witness a demand of 97 million meters in the coming five years.

The company had already made substantial investments in India, one million euro in the past five years, and was expecting to continue investments in future.

Landis has set up a research and development plant at Noida and plants at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Joka in West Bengal with a capacity to produce one million meters a year and has the capabilities to expand production further.

The company had already transferred to its Indian unit the technology to produce digital meters with 120 anti-tampering and pilferage functions.

"We had to increase the number of functions as the Indians are clever and are proved capable of finding a solution to each of the solution we designed," Landis & Gyr Executive Vice-President, Europe, Stefan Weber, said.

In a chat with a delegation of visiting reporters here, he said the company had started some pilot projects on advanced metering, especially in the pre-payment category, and was expecting to corner a market share of 20 per cent in the coming days.

Landis had also started a comprehensive project with Reliance Industries to develop comprehensive meters with a built-in anti-tampering mechanism, two-way communication and a keypad system for communicating the consumption of the respective meters to the controlling authorities online.

The company, which had 25 people working on high-end technology research in the Noida facility, is planning to ramp up the capacity to 100 in the coming days.

West Bengal facility

The West Bengal facility with over 500-strong workforce, he said, had reached its capacity.

The company was planning to cut down on the size by looking for investors who were interested in buying the skillsets that were present in the facility.

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