Based in Bangalore, India, Sri Vasuki Power Systems Pvt Ltd. is specialized in carrying out the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of Electrical Turnkey Installations PAN India. Incepted as Vasuki Power Systems in the year 1996, Sri Vasuki Power Systems became a private limited company in 2014.
V. Suresh Babu is the Founder and CMD of Sri Vasuki Power Systems Pvt Ltd. who has led from the front over the last two decades to build a company that stands for quality and uncompromising work. He is a service-oriented person who has been graced with several awards for his work on and off the field.
In a conversation with Mirror Review, V. Suresh Babu talks about the current scenario of power and utility industry, its challenges, VASUKI’s future strategies, and the role he plays being an excellent leader.
Kindly share your thoughts on the current scenario of power and utility industry. What are the major challenges associated with it?
I would say, after decades of economic planning, India has emphasized significantly on the development of the power sector. In India, the electricity generation capacity with utilities has grown drastically throughout these decades. However, per capita electricity consumption remains much lower than the world average electricity consumption and even lower than some developing Asian Countries.
Apart from the generation capacity addition and associated network strengthening, additional investment is required to extend the transmission and distribution network to meet the requirement of the unserved population, which is I see as a challenge.
On another hand, the poor financial status and operational efficiency of state electricity boards are imposing a heavy burden on the economic resources of the respective state governments. Speaking from the financial side, the lack of expenditure prudence and skewed tariff structure has led to a deterioration of the financial health of state utilities. The transmission and distribution losses remain abysmally high, being over 40% in some states of the country. A significant proportion of this loss is of a non-technical nature, primarily due to the theft of electricity. This is further worsened by the poor payment record of customers, which leads to cash flow problems for utilities, resulting in delayed payments for purchased power, coal, and rail transportation.
From managing point of view, a lack of project management expertise and accountability has led to inordinate delays in planned investments and has exasperated misgivings regarding the sector. The task of bridging the capacity shortages through large-scale investments cannot be completely entrusted to public planning, which has often slipped over its targets. By the acts of policymakers, it opened up the sector for greater private participation. Encouraged by favorable policy developments and the advent of independent regulation, increased private participation is becoming visible in the sector, though not to the extent desirable.
India is the fifth largest producer of electricity in the world and according to the Planning Commission, the State Governments account for 51.5% of the total generation capacity, while central and private sector accounts for 33.1% and 15.4% of the generation capacity respectively.
Tell us about your venture and its unique range of services.
VASUKI Group is well known as Sri Vasuki Power Systems Pvt Ltd, which operates for PAN India and has successfully completed projects in various industries & commercial sectors such as; software technology parks, data centers, residential colonies, hotels, commercial complexes, government offices, hospitals, and some other public sector organizations.
Throughout the journey of over two decades, we have associated with some major multinational companies along with the leading architects and consultants. With the abounded experience in the field, we are the preferred choice of some challenging & short-term delivery projects. Moreover, we are also a channel partner with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE); we provide them the Grid Connected Rooftop system and integration of Solar Power Plants.
What are the crucial steps that VASUKI takes to fulfill the client requirements?
Our team is committed to total customer satisfaction in terms of quality, cost, delivery, and services through technological excellence. We strive for excellence through continual improvement in the quality management system, technology, process, and competency for our client improvement.
As Founder of a leading company, what role do you play in its growth?
Being managers, we must take responsibility for developing and nurturing mutual trust and understanding among all team members. I believe management has no more critical role than to motivate and engage large numbers of people to work together towards a common goal. A management defines and explains the goal and shares the path to achieve it. Motivating people to take the journey with you and assisting them by removing obstacles –are the management’s prime responsibilities. We must engage the minds of people to support and contribute their ideas to the organization.
As a company, we believe in the ‘VASUKI – WAY’, which can be briefly summarized through two pillars that support it: ‘Continuous Improvement’ and ‘Respect for People’.
Continuous improvement often called ‘Kaizen’, defines Vasuki’s basic approach to creating an atmosphere of continuous learning and an environment that not only accepts but actually embraces the change. Such an environment can only be created when there is ‘Respect for People’ – hence the second pillar of the VASUKI WAY is momentous. Vasuki demonstrates this respect by providing employment security and seeking to engage team members through active participation in improving their jobs/skills.
What are your future perspectives of ‘VASUKI’?
I would say, all companies that want to be successful in the long term, must become learning enterprises. We constantly search for ways to make Vasuki the most successful company in the near future and I believe that can be achieved as follows.
- Fostering an atmosphere of continuous improvement and learning.
- Satisfying the internal & external customers.
- Getting quality right the first time.
- Grooming leaders from within rather than recruiting them from the outside.
- Teaching all the employees to become problem solvers.
- Growing together with suppliers and partners for mutual benefits.
Tell us about your privileged clientele base and the ongoing projects.
We are proudly associated with a few of Fortune 500 multinational corporations along with the leading companies. Some of our privileged clients include Bosch, Tata Elxsi, SBI, Bangalore International Airport Ltd., Volvo, United Spirits Ltd., Apollo Hospitals, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., and Ace Designers.
