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Nasir Group changes strategy for energy-saving bulbs

Sajjadur Rahman
Intense competition from dozens of importers and assemblers has forced Nasir Group to revise its strategy for its locally-produced energy saving light bulbs.
The company that used to make complete bulbs will now only sell burners to local assemblers.
“I've talked to some importers and assemblers who have agreed to buy burners from us," Nasir Uddin Biswas, chairman and managing director of the Group, told The Daily Star.
Nasir Group is investing an additional Tk 10 crore to produce burners so that the local businesses can assemble them easily.
“A full automatic machine worth Tk 10 crore is on the way and will be installed in a couple ofweeks," Biswas said.
Nasir Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh, has invested Tk 500 crore to manufacture energy-saving bulbs at Sohagpur under Mirzapur upazila ofTangail district.
The factory started commercial production in April this year, but its hope for a strong market share was quashed by the importers-assemblers' presence.
Although the factory's installed capacity is 40,000-50,000 pieces of bulbs a day, at present it is producing only 10,000 pieces a day — and only half of that is being sold in the market.
“After a few months of production, I understood that I won't be able to market my products in the traditional way,” Biswas said.
He met importers and assemblers several times to convince them to buy burners from him instead of importing them.
“Finally, they agreed.”
The energy-saving light bulbs, also called compact fluorescent lights or lamps, use one-fifth to one-third of electric power, and last eight to fifteen times longer.
According to market players, there are 60-70 importers, who bring different parts of such bulbs from China and assemble them in Bangladesh.
The market size of energysaving bulbs is on the rise, thanks to increasing awareness among consumers to be environmentally friendly.
But the businesses predict the market will boom once the government makes its use mandatory.
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Presently, around 20 lakh pieces of bulbs are imported every month, and if the average price of a bulb is Tk 150, the monthly import bills stand at Tk 30 crore, and Tk360 crore annually, Biswas said.
He said burners account for 40 percent of a bulb's total production costs.
If his factory can meet the demand of the assemblers, the country will be able to save at least Tk 100 crore a year from import expenditure.
Nasir Group, which started its business with the making of biri (traditional handmade low-cost cigarettes) , boasts of having glass, melamine, printing and packaging and footwear units, with energy saving light bulbs being the latest addition.