Solar Pump Maker Solartive Seeks A National Opportunity

Fayyaz Ashraf,33, Director at Solartive is a man in hurry. Five years after he formally pushed into the solar water pump business, he has taken the small, Ranchi-registered firm through a massive transformation from hometown Chatra in Jharkhand, to the state capital Ranchi. The change has meant a transition from a basic 4×8 small shop into one of the fastest-growing water infra and management companies with a Pan-India presence. Currently, the firm’s turnover has spiked to over Rs 250 crore in FY24, with zero debt on the books according to the Greater Noida based Ashraf. With ambitions to scale to a key milestone of Rs.1000 crore by 2026. This is no wishful thinking, as it has orders in hand as well as a strong upcoming tender pipeline to actually make a serious push for those ambitious numbers. Brother Rashid Ashraf is the CEO managing operations in Jharkhand.

A Fresh Beginning in 2019

Solartive is just one of the many startups that have emerged courtesy the new opportunities offered in the renewable energy space. For a firm that was mostly into trading and fabrication to make a full-fledged jump into solar water pumps was thanks to a strange problem Ashraf noticed early on. He realized that material he was supplying to customers in Jharkhand was not being serviced properly by the original manufacturers. In the farming sector, that was a huge issue, and encouraged him to convince his family to back the move into manufacturing along with related investments into service and more. For the Electrical and Electronics Engineering from WBUT, West Bengal, it was also an opportunity to put his education to use by focusing on developing their own product. That journey was to take him almost two years and multiple iterations before the first pump started up. “It was a very stressful period as we had a lot riding on making our own pump based on our design, and failure was something I could not even consider,” reminisces Ashraf.

Home State Strengths, Opportunities Outside

Started in 2007 by their father in Jharkhand, Solartive today operates from a facility in UP’s Greater Noida, where it has its manufacturing and assembly plant for solar water pumps with a capacity of upto 5000 per month. The company is also into power transmission & distribution, and steel fabrication in various states of India. In Ranchi, the firm has a 35,000 sq. ft. facility for metal fabrication. The firm was recently in the news after bagging a USD 28+ million tender from Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL). This project entails developing a transmission line for electrifying un-electrified regions within Mukhyamantri Ujjawal Jharkhand Yojana, which aims to enhance power transmission infrastructure in Jharkhand, thus boosting economic growth through better energy distribution.

The move to UP has been guided by many factors, not least of which is to expand outside the firm’s home territory of Jharkhand.

In targeting a 4X growth in turnover by 2026 to Rs 1000 crores, hopes to travel the same path as successful firms before them, by expanding beyond his home state, investing steadily in research and distribution, and finally finding the people who will help the firm achieve its full potential. The biggest driver of course is his conviction in the PM KUSUM scheme as a game changer for the sector.

Currently, Solartive’s pumps help it managing the water supply of 1,00,000+ villages and 20+ cities across the country through a team of 300+ professionals.

Counting On PMKUSUM

“The PM KUSUM scheme may have achieved only 30% of its initial targets till date, but that was mainly due to delays during the two-year covid period. Now, we can see a strong resolve to achieve numbers in this scheme, and we are well placed to benefit,” says Ashraf.

As a manufacturer of solar pump sets and having expertise in the manufacturing of high-quality solar water pump sets, which include submersible/monoblock pumps, Solartive has benefitted from the growing market for solar pumps. “We have seen states like Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh that have fared well, and farmers saved approximately Rs 50,000 annually.”

Ashraf believes the PMKUSUM scheme does not need any whole sale charges to start performing, pointing to a case perhaps for payment in instalments for farmers, besides the freedom to choose pump sizes based on the farm size and specific water requirements. He also stresses on the still existing need for state governments to educate farmers on the benefits of the scheme.

In the short term, Ashraf considered the idea of getting into solar module manufacturing, but shelved it as he believes the issue of DCR module availability is a short-term blip. Plus, the advent of new technologies as well. “We are expecting other technologies as well like solar film which will be ultra-thin and flexible and many more are on the way,” he predicts.