NAVANK Cable B.V.: Global Manufacturers Expand in India; Serving Domestic and Neighbouring Markets

In an exclusive interview with Wire & Cable India, Mr. Naval Singhal, Chief Business Officer, NAVANK Cable B.V., says multinational cable manufacturers are setting up plants in India to serve both the domestic market and export to neighboring regions. He adds that NAVANK operates at the intersection of global manufacturing and local market execution, bringing world-class materials, deep application expertise, and reliable supply-chain solutions to cable makers building the next generation of infrastructure.

Wire & Cable India: Please briefly outline your company’s cable and wire industry product focus, including key technologies, product types, and principal end-use sectors.

Naval Singhal: NAVANK is a global supplier of advanced raw materials for cable manufacturing, bridging leading international producers with cable manufacturers across optical fibre, power, and data cable segments. Founded in 2009, we began as an India-focused business and have since evolved into a globally integrated platform, with operations in India and the Netherlands, warehouses across Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, and a growing footprint in Portugal to serve European customers efficiently.

Our portfolio spans performance-critical materials across the cable value chain such as compounds like LSZH B2CA and UL grades, XLPE up to 500kV; semiconducting compounds, PBT, and specialized formulations for EV charging, solar, railway, and marine cables; infrastructure materials like water-blocking tapes & yarns, and high-speed foil mylar tapes for data cables, mica tapes (10 micron thickness) suitable to meet test standard BS6387 CWZ-950°C for 3 hours; and specialty additions like polyimide tapes, HDPE tapes, and self-fusing EPR tapes for high-temperature and demanding applications. Each product is selected and engineered with a single goal: ‘reliable processing, regulatory compliance, and long-term performance in real operating conditions.’

Our materials support the global infrastructure build-out across telecom, renewable energy, electric mobility with EV charging infrastructure; and industrial, railway & marine applications.

Watch: Top Cable Companies in India

WCI: Within your core product segments, how would you characterise current demand conditions and order visibility?

NS: The demand across our segments remains structurally strong but uneven, reflecting differing infrastructure cycles and execution dynamics. Our optical fibre materials are the fastest-growing part of our portfolio. In 2024, we shipped over 5,000 tonnes of optical fibre compounds into the Indian market, up from just 200 tonnes in 2018. The power cable materials are following a more predictable trajectory. Renewable energy installations, especially large-scale solar projects across the Rajasthan and Gujarat corridors are driving steady demand for FR-XLPE and UV-resistant compounds. We closed 2025 with USD 17 million in gross sales value, and our forward order book through Q2 2026 is nearly fully covered.

WCI: Within your manufacturing offerings, how do you currently assess investment sentiment among wire and cable producers, particularly in emerging markets such as India?

NS: Currently, the investment sentiment among Indian cable manufacturers is the strongest in the past 15 years. What we are seeing is not a short-term capex burst, but a structural shift driven by three reinforcing forces: government-led infrastructure spending across power, renewables, railways, and digital connectivity; rising quality and certification requirements to access export markets (UL, ISO, CPR, etc.), and China-plus-one supply chain reconfiguration, which is pushing global OEMs to qualify Indian suppliers. Together, these factors are reshaping how Indian cable manufacturers think about scale, capability, and global relevance.

Tier-1 players such as Polycab, KEI, and Havells are no longer limiting themselves to incremental capacity additions. They are committing to greenfield plants and large-scale expansions. This investment behavior is cascading down the value chain. Mid-tier manufacturers, previously cautious, are now following suit. Customers who were buying 100–200 tonnes annually from us just three years ago are now forecasting 500–800 tonnes, driven by multiple CCV lines coming online.

What’s particularly notable is the quality of investment, not just the quantity. Manufacturers are building in-house testing and validation capabilities to meet export standards such as UL certification for the US, ISO systems for global OEMs, and European CPR (Construction Products Regulation) compliance.

WCI: Which customer or application requirements are currently exerting the greatest pressure to improve productivity and quality within your product range?

NS: Across our product range, three customer requirements are exerting the greatest cost pressure to improve both productivity and quality: fire safety in enclosed spaces, cable miniaturization, and material traceability for export compliance.

Fire safety has moved from a ‘specification item’ to a regulatory, reputational, and non-negotiable need. Indian codes now mandate LSZH cables in enclosed public environments such as metro and railway systems, airports and hospitals, and commercial buildings and data centers.

Further, urban telecom deployments are driving aggressive cable miniaturization. Operators want higher fibre counts within existing duct infrastructure, which is accelerating adoption of high-fibre-count ribbon cables, tighter buffer tube geometries, and smaller overall cable diameters.

Material traceability has become the fastest-growing quality requirement, particularly for customers exporting to the US and EU. Customers now expect complete documentation, including raw material certificates, RoHS and REACH compliance, country-of-origin declarations, and full batch-level traceability.

WCI: Which manufacturing disciplines, automation measures, or quality-assurance practices have delivered the most tangible improvements in your yield or rework reduction?

NS: We have adopted manufacturing-grade quality disciplines across sourcing, logistics, and customer support. Two practices have delivered the most tangible improvements in yield and rework reduction are: independent quality verification and root-cause technical support.

We no longer rely solely on supplier certificates for critical materials such as semiconducting compounds and precision water-blocking tapes. Before containers leave our suppliers, we engage independent laboratories to conduct incoming inspections at origin.

Further, when the customers report process issues, such as melt-flow inconsistency or extrusion instability, we avoid reflexive batch replacement. Instead, our technical team visits the customer’s facility to review material handling practices, extrusion parameters, and equipment settings. In many cases, the root cause lies outside the material itself. This approach reduces unnecessary rework and material replacement, lowers customer scrap rates, and builds long-term trust that price-based competitors struggle to match.

WCI: How are sustainability and decarbonisation goals translating into practical changes at your company?

NS: Sustainability in the cable materials business is inherently complex because we sit mid-value chain. We don’t control upstream petrochemical feedstocks or downstream end-of-life disposal. That being said, we can meaningfully influence both through product selection, supplier engagement, and logistics design. Over the last five years, we have been focusing on LSZH compound acceleration, recycled-content development, and logistics optimization.

WCI: How are cost pressures across raw materials, energy, or logistics being managed without compromising product reliability or compliance?

NS: Cost pressure is a constant in the cable materials business. Key inputs like polyethylene and polypropylene resins, copper, energy, and ocean freight are volatile and largely outside our control. Rather than chasing short-term price cuts that risk quality or compliance, we manage costs through three structural levers: procurement timing, value engineering, and operational efficiency, supported by disciplined currency risk management.

Cost pressure is unavoidable, but margin erosion is not. By combining smart procurement timing, credible value engineering, logistics and inventory efficiency, and disciplined FX risk management, we’re able to absorb volatility without compromising product reliability, compliance, or customer trust. In a market where many players react tactically, this structured approach has become a competitive advantage.

WCI: How has the wire and cable industry benefited, in practical terms, from automation or real-time digital control?

NS: From our vantage point as a materials supplier, we see automation delivering benefits in two key areas: process control and supply chain visibility.

Five years ago, tracking a container from Shanghai to Chennai was opaque—you’d get an estimated arrival date and hope for the best. Now, we use freight tracking platforms that give real-time vessel location, port congestion alerts, and predictive arrival times. This lets us give customers accurate delivery commitments and manage our warehouse capacity more efficiently. If we see a shipment delayed by a week due to port congestion, we can proactively arrange alternate supply from our local inventory or expedite a different shipment.

The challenge with automation is that it creates brittleness if you’re not careful. So while we’re enthusiastic about automation, we also maintain human oversight and the ability to escalate exceptions quickly. Technology should amplify good judgment, not replace it.

Also Read: Metalube India: India’s Push for Advanced Wire Drawing Technologies Accelerates Demand for Next-Generation Lubricants

WCI: Looking ahead three to five years, which wire & cable segments or applications are most likely to drive the next investment cycle?

NS: Three segments will drive investment: renewable energy interconnection, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and data center connectivity.

WCI: How do you see India as a market?

NS: India is the most exciting market in the world for cable materials, and I don’t say that lightly. In 2009, India consumed around 10 million fibre-kilometers of optical fibre cable annually. Today it’s over 50 million FKM and growing at double digits. Power cable demand has followed a similar trajectory, driven by grid modernization and renewable energy integration. India now has around 50+ CCV lines, and would be 80+ by the end of 2026-27.

What makes India compelling isn’t just growth—it’s the nature of the growth. This isn’t incremental demand from GDP expansion; it’s structural demand from infrastructure build-out that’s decades overdue. Fibre penetration in India is still only about 20% of cell towers, compared to 80%+ in developed markets. The rural broadband gap is enormous—only 95% of villages have any internet access, and most of that is slow wireless.

The power sector is equally dynamic. India needs to add 200+ GW of thermal and renewable generation capacity by 2030 to meet projected demand growth. The grid needs to be upgraded to handle bidirectional power flow from distributed solar. Electric vehicle charging needs to be built out. All of this requires cables—transmission cables, distribution cables, EV charging cables—and each represents a materials opportunity for us.

India is also becoming a manufacturing hub. Multinational cable manufacturers are setting up plants in India to serve both the domestic market and export to neighboring regions. India has competitive labor costs, improving logistics infrastructure, and a large domestic market that can absorb production during export slowdowns.

The challenges are real but manageable. Bureaucracy can slow project execution. Import duties and GST create complexity. Payment cycles can be long, especially with government customers. Currency volatility adds financial risk. But these are all navigable if you have the right operating model—local presence, patient capital, strong customer relationships, and the ability to ride out short-term volatility.

Looking ahead, I see India’s cable materials market growing from about USD 9 billion in 2024-25 (Power cable USD 5 billion, OFC USD 2 billion, data and specialty cable around USD 2 billion) to USD 25 billion by 2030, driven by 15-20% annual growth in fibre optic materials and 10-12% in power cable materials.

When I look at the infrastructure deficit, the government commitment, and the capabilities of Indian manufacturers, I’m convinced that the best years for this industry are ahead of us.