Key Takeaways
Navitas is expanding beyond modules into encapsulants, cells, wafers, storage, project development, and international markets to create a resilient business model
The Surat-based company sees energy storage as a natural extension of solar, driven by falling battery costs, grid curtailment challenges, and growing electrification
Rather than pursuing every segment of the value chain, Navitas evaluates each business on its standalone profitability and avoids competing directly with its EPC and IPP customers
As India’s solar manufacturing sector enters a new phase of growth, companies are increasingly looking beyond module production to build integrated energy businesses. Navitas Solar is one such player. Having spent more than a decade in the industry, the Surat, Gujarat-based company is expanding upstream into cells and wafers while strengthening its presence in energy storage, project development, and overseas markets.
In this interview with TaiyangNews Managing Director Michael Schmela, Co-Founder and CEO Vineet Mittal and COO Vijay Menon discuss Navitas’ manufacturing philosophy, views on India’s solar overcapacity debate, the growing importance of storage, and the company’s ambition to become a fully integrated solar and energy solutions provider.
TaiyangNews: Congratulations on your new headquarters. Exciting new place, wonderful view here. You have the big inauguration coming up soon; how are you celebrating it?
Vijay Menon: We are celebrating the next step in our journey, which we call Navitas 2.0. We’ve grown multi-fold over the last decade, and we look forward to accelerating that growth over the next 3 years. The whole idea is forward-looking.
TaiyangNews: This factory is state-of-the-art, and you’re also expanding it. Tell us a bit about your journey and how you want to position yourself.
Vineet Mittal: We have already spent 13 years in this sector. We dedicated the first decade to learning. Navitas has grown from a very small scale to the point where it can now ship large quantities. But more than that, a platform approach has been our constant endeavor, with solar modules at the core of our revenues. In addition, we are backward integrating, starting with encapsulants, now solar cell manufacturing, and we are also doing a pilot for wafer-ingots as well as downstream, where we are doing projects in the C&I segment, and we are also going to own some of these assets. So we will be working as developers in India, but we have also expanded our activities outside India. We have done some projects in Southern America, in Guyana, and now we have set up a local office in Zambia. We are working on several large ground-mounted projects in the Southern African belt.
So we are trying to have a platform approach. We are focusing on commercializing as many products as possible at scale. Whatever product is available in the market, solar modules, energy storage, raw materials, and projects, we are trying to bring those to the Indian masses. The whole idea here, again, is to create a long-term business that does not depend on policies or technology, and to have a presence at each stage of the value chain.
TaiyangNews: Many are unaware of India’s long history in solar manufacturing, and with more than a decade in the business, Navitas is one of the older players. When you started out as a manufacturer, it was not clear that the market would thrive. Those were also the days when the European market tanked. What was the vision when you started in 2013, and what has changed?
Vineet Mittal: There is a back story to this. Navitas has its roots in manufacturing. We are a team of 3 families with interests in textiles, construction materials and steel, and transformers. Manufacturing has always been our expertise. When we branched into the building materials business, we entered the green building materials market with AAC, made from fly ash, a byproduct of a thermal power plant. We entered a new category very early in the market, among the first 2 or 3 in India, and are now the largest producer of this product in India. It is used in outer walling, is light and environmentally friendly, and replaces age-old technology. The point was to enter an existing market with a new, environmentally friendly technology. While creating awareness takes time initially, the product scales up much faster as the market stabilizes and project or product costs align with existing technology. We felt it was also the right time to enter the renewables market, particularly solar. With more than 40% of India un-electrified at the time, we felt that solar was a necessity in the rural region. Generating power at the point of consumption is the beauty of solar; it can be put up anywhere there is a need for power, so we felt that this particular niche is not going to go away. There will be continued demand for this product since necessity trumps cost here. So our plan was to use this as the starting point and to go along as the market progresses. Since we were early in the game, we had the luxury of learning and then moving ahead with the market.
What is different now is that there is awareness in the market, and solar has become a large-scale business. The competition is much bigger now. The market has expanded, providing room for everyone to grow, and automation levels and technology itself have evolved so much. So it’s more about adoption now than just development.
TaiyangNews: Let’s talk about the competition and how you want to position yourself. The Indian government has quite a vision, and it has been really supportive in making it all possible. To start with, both the demand and supply sides grew quickly, with the former now outpacing the latter and leading to overcapacity. You have quite some experience in the market, but you have also been very conscious and decent in your growth, not directly expanding to the moon. Realistically, how do you see yourself in this very tough environment that is getting tougher every moment?
Vijay Menon: As we move forward, I think we are clear: we understand the value chain, and it is imperative for us to focus on the upstream. Module manufacturing has become more or less streamlined and there are opportunities for us to expand if the demand comes through other facilities. Our immediate focus is to go upstream, in line with the Government of India targets, and to obtain and maintain expertise in that market. So I think we will play a relevant role.
As far as overcapacity is concerned, the actual numbers are probably close to half of what you hear, because the reported numbers are in AC. For example, the DC side is 60-65 GW, and the listed capacity is 150-170 GW AC, which is closer to 80 GW DC, so there isn’t much of a gap. India is a growing market, and power demand is increasing by 12% per year on average. This is a market that is growing continuously; there are still places that are un-electrified, the energy economy is booming, so electricity demand is increasing. So I think we have a relevant space to be.
To top it up, a lot of countries outside of India are looking at either a ‘China + 1’ strategy or alternative strategies where there is more transparency. I think India also has a significant role to play in that scenario, and we would like to be in that space when that happens.
TaiyangNews: You already mentioned some of your strategy: you went into encapsulation, then looked beyond module manufacturing, and now you're talking about vertical integration. There are so many ways for you to integrate: you could do frames, you could do glass, you could do other components. But what are the pain points one needs to be aware of in order to survive this?
Vineet Mittal: I think it is about capital allocation. I come from a commerce background. We have to look at each project in isolation; it has to run sustainably, and it cannot be permanently dependent on a category that is within the group company. So each product or each process has to be independently profitable, whether it is a glass or a frame, it doesn’t matter. Our entry into encapsulation was quite some time ago, and we have seen some tough times. Now, there is a lot of demand for domestic manufacturing as well, driven by the supply chain constraints we are seeing, and this will grow across other raw material ecosystems. As the country grows, we will see much more ancillary manufacturing, and it depends on the group's expertise whether they can come up with a good product. It has to make commercial sense at the end of the day, because these are, in a way, highly commoditized. Not exactly commoditized, but still, there are replacements or other options available, so we have to be relevant. There is hardly any IP in this market where we will have a large profit share, so we have to be very cost-effective.
For us, it has been a mix of different things that we have been doing. As you said, there are different ways of integrating, and there is no right way, but at least we feel that whatever way we decide to integrate, it is better to have a slightly larger diversified pool, rather than just putting all eggs in one basket, in one product, in one activity, or in one geography. In that sense, we want to remain diversified. Technology will keep on evolving, policies will keep on changing, so there is a profit to be gained from each of these activities at some point in time. But to do that, we need to be in the market and remain relevant, and find a way to grow into these activities and complementary businesses in the future.
TaiyangNews: Which of these different segments will be your biggest focus? Will you be looking more into the rooftop segment, utility scale? You also have Navitas Green, which is basically your own customer and a way to deploy your products.
Vineet Mittal: Going forward, a big part of our strategic focus should be on energy storage. There is a big curtailment problem in the market. The government has been very hard on solar, including storage, not just at the policy level but also within the industry. All the C&I clients are now adding storage to have a larger set of renewables in their overall energy mix. This is for both the green objective and economic reasons. Combining solar and storage is cheaper than the grid tariff. In that sense, it’s a natural outcome. Falling battery prices also make commercial sense for installing storage. While it used to be a question of solar vs. grid before, it’s now solar + storage vs. grid tariff. Tariffs have increased over time, and we are at an inflection point where the cost of full-day solar + storage power is on par with or cheaper than the grid tariff.
So ultimately, it’s a no-brainer that the battery business is going to grow. It is highly complementary for our type of business. We can now sell our batteries to all our solar panel customers. In fact, we were among the early entrants in the storage market through one of our group companies. When we started way back in 2019/20, it was quite evident on the distributed solar side. All the solar panels for a village project were accompanied by a small battery to power an electric fan or a small induction cooker. We now see energy security and other major issues emerging. So it now extends beyond rural areas to urban areas, not just as a backup power source, but also to power their appliances. We see a shift from natural gas to electric in cooking and from fossil-fuel-powered vehicles to EVs. There will be a rapid drive toward electrification in the near future, and storage will play a major role in this shift.
TaiyangNews: Moving briefly to quality, there has obviously been quite some pressure on companies, with price competition on one side and rising raw material costs on the other. There are also many newcomers in the market who have yet to gain experience in producing high-quality products. On the other hand, for developers, especially in India, low price is king. How are you approaching that with your experience and your background?
Vijay Menon: I think there are 2 things to keep in mind. On our end, we are focused on delivering consistent quality over time. We have high levels of automation at our plant and buy components from leading manufacturers. To augment that, we have an in-house testing lab that is compliant with all IEC standards. We can run all tests in-house, as we would in a third-party lab, thereby maintaining continuity in product deployment, planning before introducing any components, and so on. So that’s the commitment from our side.
As you said, there are so many manufacturers in the industry that we sometimes have to prioritize competition over knowledge. While I wouldn’t say there is deliberate malpractice in the industry, there is a lack of adequate effort, focus, or capability to consistently deliver a product outcome. Some serious buyers definitely see that and choose us. That’s one part of it.
The other part, when we talk about quality – and I have tried to share this in some forums in the past as well – is that Indian manufacturing is highly mature. Solar manufacturing has existed in India since 1989. Many senior Indian players have significant experience in manufacturing. One gap that exists in my view, as far as quality is concerned, is after the product hits the market. I think that’s an area the industry needs to look at from a finance standpoint, as do third-party testing agencies, a whole lot of developers, and all other stakeholders involved. Sometimes the issue is not necessarily with the product, but more with the practice. I think it’s also partially applicable globally, given gaps in international standards between best practices and policy, or in some sort of control mechanism. So a lot of discussion should happen about which best practices to adopt for the product being deployed.
TaiyangNews: What would you expect the government to do in order to make that truly happen?
Vijay Menon: I think it’s less from the government, it’s also from the leading players, the bankers, people whose money is on the line, to come together through various forums and say these are the measures we think are appropriate. For example, in recycling, PV CYCLE was a voluntary program to start with, and at some point, voices began to be heard. I think there is similar room for discussion among experienced, serious players such as ourselves in this space as well, and then we collectively put that message across about what kinds of measures could be put in place, which the government could take into consideration. The industry needs a collective voice to highlight its concerns to the government so the government can step in.
TaiyangNews: Especially in the Indian market, where big projects dominate, you have to compete with big corporations or groups. How do you see yourself in this field, competing with big guys?
Vineet Mittal: I think that is true for all large businesses. It’s more about what you stand for, how your brand is perceived, and the relationship in the market. Of course, it is a no-brainer that the product and its quality have to be good; they have to be world-class. But then I think there is still so much scope in India. The Indian economy is large, with a large population; until the product is differentiated, there is scope for everyone to grow if it is based on existing, proven technology. It doesn’t matter how big the competition is, there is scope for others to grow, and many times it is more about the customer segmentation rather than just the market as a whole. Every company has its own strategy: where they want to focus, which kind of customer they want to serve, what price point they want to sell at, whether it is going to be the cheapest or premium. So there are so many things around, and these will happen over time. It doesn’t happen in the first couple of years to find your own product-market fit or the customer segmentation you are comfortable working with. We have spent more time in the market than a couple of our large competitors, which is a significant advantage. We have spent that time building close-knit networks with clients across the country. We have around 1,200-plus EPC companies as our regular customers pan-India. I think this particular network is the key factor that helps companies like ours grow, but we also need to keep innovating; otherwise, we will slowly start segmenting.
TaiyangNews: Navitas turns 15 in 2 years. How do you see your company at that stage?
Vineet Mittal: Our cell lines should be operational by that time. We should have backward integration by at least one step, and we definitely plan to have a pilot line for ingots and wafers, along with a larger commercial-scale cell line. We will be among the few companies in the country that will be able to claim themselves as a fully integrated silicon value chain as well, but also we are more present along with the ingot, wafer, cell, and module to the storage and the ancillary ecosystem, also onward into execution and projects in India and a couple of countries abroad.
Where we stand in 2 years is something we can really predict. The bigger question of where we will be in 10 years is very difficult to predict because the market is changing much faster. From where we started, I don’t think we would have imagined where we are today.
TaiyangNews: Thank you for the interview.
