Are Global Integrators Reshaping the INDIAN AV INDUSTRY?
Global integrators establishing in India are sourcing highly experienced AV professionals from
Indian system integrators and AV consultancy companies. Executing large projects worldwide from
India, the Indian AV industry is being reshaped to compete for international projects. AV-ICN's
Editorial Assistant
Ritika Pandey analyses the churn impacting Indian AV industry.
Global Integrators have equipped the audio-visual market with the best-in-class technologies and
experts from all over the world, unplugging exceptional AV experiences. The industry has outgrown
networking in terms of collaborative solutions, reliability, and unified communication. Major global
AV integrators have also entered the Indian market to hunt talent from our country and provide
better opportunities to the performing Indian AV experts. With the positioned network and acoustic
technologies, global integrators hire and invest on the experienced Indian engineers who have been
trained by the Indian professionals for more than a decade. Announcing the accomplishment of Indian
AV professionals who work to meet the global stage, John Masters, India Country Director,
Diversified, states, "Diversified has modified its plan for India, at least for 2023, and we have
focused on building our 'Global Capability Centre', in Bangalore which exports many different types
of services to Diversified subsidiaries worldwide, after a very successful pilot in 2022". However,
does it run the risk to the coming-of-age opportunities for our Indian AV market?
John Masters, India Country Director, Diversified
India has no plans to wait for better opportunities to knock. We need faster. We need spectacular.
We need to be exclusive. Many humongous projects covering the projections, sound shows, or AV
charging stations for Government-catered places like the Statue of Unity, Buddha Statue in
Hyderabad, monument of Saint Thiruvalluvar, or the Statue of Prosperity have raised the bar of the
country. Projects in IoT industry and telecommunications have also left no gaps so far. Internet of
Things brought many startups to grow with consolidation activities and technological advancements.
Technologies like 5G, VR, AR, and many others are also bridging the Indian market with the world.
Moreover, with plans set to advance the AV market in the coming five years, we have many Indian AV
integrators working to clench on to the new standards.
Rhythm Arora, Chief Technology Officer, Qubix Technologies
Adding to the competitive AV advancement, AVI-SPL, Diversified, Kinly, and many other businesses
have achieved prestigious projects and are now expanding with new offices to cater to the
billion-dollar industry in India. With new waves to catch, Indian integrators are investing into
world-class networking and latest solutions to compete globally. To reflect on the current state of
the Indian AV industry, we bring an interesting conversation by the AV elite Rhythm Arora, Chief
Technology Officer, Qubix Technologies, which is a large-scale integrator for Indian and
multinational corporates, high budget celebrity homes, and hotels across the subcontinent. It is
currently serving India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and starting operations soon in Singapore, Cambodia,
and Bangladesh. Some other AV integrators also connect with us to recognize the lucrative needs of
the customers in the Indian AV industry with world-class opportunities.
Equipping state-of-the-art AV design and integration solutions, Indian integrators step-up their
game with world-class projects
"Indian integrators are very well equipped to deliver large scale projects, in fact, in the recent
years on working around global integrators, we have found that good Indian integrators are more
innovative and updated on implementing newer solutions," says Arora.
"With the scale of jobs being implemented in India, area wise - the integrators here are more
capable on delivering better outcomes, than the other counterparts, globally," marks Rhythm. "It's
more common to see projects like half-a-million sq. ft. with 3000-4000 employees in India than in
other parts of the world currently."
He further adds, "The other important factor is cost, the services are much cheaper in India, and
it's easier for companies to have a large headcount of people on their rolls. For example, a company
of our size in a country like USA would Hire 1 or 2 CAD Technicians - whereas we can employ 8 or 10
at same or lesser cost. This makes us much faster, and we can create more detailed drawings, manage
more iterations at a lower cost, than a counterpart elsewhere."
"Agreed the capability and skill level of Indian manpower is lesser, but it's very rapidly growing
with ample trainings, publications and trades-shows now being available in the country," says Rhythm
Arora.
Deepak Sreenivas, Director, Sigma AVIT
Deepak Sreenivas, Director, Sigma AVIT Technology Solution, puts his thoughts ahead on the Indian
integrators' achievements. He says, "As someone who has been in the audio-visual (AV) industry for
more than 25 years and an entrepreneur for the past 15 years, we have witnessed first-hand growth
and evolution of the industry in terms of technology and project size.
"The expertise of Indian integrators has also matured over the past two and a half decades, enabling
us to deliver international-quality installations and adapt standards that are comparable to or
superior to those of most global integrators," says Deepak Sreenivas.
"The market for AV integration in India has developed rapidly, empowering integrators to invest in
new advancements and build their knowledge base through collaboration and training," He claims, "We
have observed that some of our customers have faith in Indian integrators and provide us with the
opportunity to explore new technology acquisition and implementation strategies. This has
occasionally helped us develop our own expertise or, in some instances, bring in know-how to India
through collaboration with international integrators."
Abdul Waheed, Managing Director, EYTE Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Abdul Waheed, CTS, Managing Director, Eyte Technologies Pvt. Ltd. joins our conversation emphasizing
on the integration solutions, "With the growing tech advancements, Indian integrators are serving
the AV industry for the last 2-3 decades, many of them have the size of teams which is among the top
in the global industry, they are serving not only Indian clients but the global clients too."
"One should know that serving global clients is challenging and different than the local clients.
For instance, following the global equipment standards along with the installation standards is a
must. One must admit that the integrators in India are delivering world-class projects for
state-of-the-art facilities," states Waheed. "Lately the large Indian corporates and government
segments market have also increased in terms of technological advancement and implementation."
Having understood the Indian AV market, Waheed highlights, "The market ensures world-class
standards, and this is one of the reasons that international companies are also looking at India as
a huge AV market." He believes that AV design standards in terms of consultancy are still to go a
long way beating the international paradigm. He adds, "It may be due to price competition that
clients are still not convinced paying high design fees for the man hours spent on the project."
Indian integrators secure international projects with the speeding competition globally. The
industry continues to challenge the AV projects executed by Indian integrators meeting the
international standards.
Rhythm Arora, begins to emphasize on the speeding competition by the Indian integrators, stating,
"There is hardly any differentiation factor between a project implemented by a global integrator or
an Indian integrator. It's mostly about comfort and relationship based on which the decision is
taken by the end client. There is also no discovery of Indian integrators to the global customers
before they enter the country. Indian integrators are not securing too many global jobs, as there
are not too many Indian end clients going out and setting up shops elsewhere, and whenever they do -
they usually prefer an Indian integrator - if they can support a particular region."
He further points, "Indian market drilled over the global integrators have a good scope in India
presently, as when a US company comes and sets up an office in India - they prefer getting someone
known to execute the project for them. However, after operating in the Indian market for a couple of
years, we have hardly seen them use global integrators for their next projects as Indian firms
always offer much higher value of every rupee or dollar spent with a far better support offering."
"Once we have more Indian corporates expanding globally surely the AV integrators will follow them
there," says Arora.
"Indian integrators can secure large international projects by being competitive and experienced in
project execution with good technology knowledge and financial backing. The Integrators Award and
Inavate provide a platform for Indian integrators to showcase their work on an international forum,"
mentions Sreenivas. "Sigma AVIT has won awards for the best design and installation in Experience
Centre and office spaces thanks to our regular participation in these competitions. Indian
integrators have been able to participate and be recognized in international forums thanks to these
platforms."
He adds, "Reliance Industries is an excellent example of a company that has adapted new technologies
and given integrators the opportunity to implement them in their facilities. They have pushed for
the latest and most effective technology available, providing our team with the necessary exposure
and expertise to carry out large-scale projects. We collaborated with SweeLee from Singapore on the
Jio World Center project, a large-scale, cutting-edge construction project. This will undoubtedly be
a world-class installation that will gain worldwide recognition."
Waheed continues to highlight, "Lately the Indian AV market is growing rapidly. The number of
meeting spaces in offices have been increasing tremendously, not to mention that the number of
offices supporting international business also increased. Indian AV industry has been managing
considerable number of global accounts and delivering the projects as per the global standards for
quite a long time. They have not only been managing these accounts in India but in GCC and other
continents too."
The post-Covid era makes international AVSI enter the Indian market successfully. Waheed states,
"There is a huge increment in number of international AV certified people in design and installation
domains. The AV engineers are no less than any internationals in AV skills and experience. Many
AVSIs based in India and the technical team of Indian engineers are supporting large projects in GCC
and IMEA and Europe. Indeed, many of the international brands have their R&D and technical support
offices set up in India."
India is the powerhouse of AV talent
Indian audio visual market holds the potential to chart new terrorities. With the country ready to
push towards the competitive advancements globally, Indian integrators deliver cutting-edge global
projects. Giving decades into transformation, our AV industry has made its way into delivering
world-class installations. With the ever-changing landscape of the industry, growth-game is hitting
the benchmarks in India. Being one of the largest exporters of audio-visual projects, India
certainly knows how to turn the tables with its experienced manpower and professional engineers.
Indian integrators have been catering to the AV market for quite a while in full swing, offering the
best delivery of the latest solutions. Our fully-grown Indian AV industry is cherishing new
opportunities globally. The quality of Indian AV industry has improved exceptionally with big
projects landing from around the globe. In fact, global integrators who won the prestigious global
contracts are being exhibited from India. With our strengths in IT, ICT, communication, and other
industries, India is succeeding to bring the best AV-integrated solutions, fulfilling all client
demands. With continued investment in upskilling, knowledge sharing, and collaboration, Indian AV
integrators can secure more large international projects and showcase their work on the global
stage.