SEIL to invest Rs 200 crore in breaker and switchgear panel capacity

Schneider Electric Infrastructure Ltd (SEIL) plans to invest about Rs 200 crore to expand manufacturing capacity for circuit breakers and switchgear panels. The investment will support new facilities and upgrades aimed at both domestic and international markets.

SEIL will invest Rs 90.60 crore to set up a new circuit breaker plant in Kolkata with an annual capacity of 40,000 units. The plant is scheduled for commissioning before the end of FY27. This will raise the company’s total breaker capacity to 45,000 units per year from its current level of 5,000 units. The new plant will manufacture next-generation air circuit breakers.

In parallel, SEIL will expand its switchgear panel capacity at its existing Vadodara plant in Gujarat. The current capacity of 8,000 panels per year will be increased to 14,000 panels per year, supported by an investment of Rs.110.20 crore. This upgrade is also expected to be completed during FY27.

In addition to breakers and switchgear panels, SEIL is expanding transformer production at its Vadodara unit. By March 2026, the company plans to add 1,500 MVA of capacity, raising total transformer manufacturing capacity to 7,000 MVA per year. This expansion involves a Rs 13.6 crore investment.

The company intends to finance all three projects mainly through internal accruals.

For FY25, SEIL reported an order inflow of Rs.2,693 crore, marking a 13.4% increase from the previous year. The order backlog as of March 31, 2025, stood at Rs.1,253 crore.

In future, Schneider’s R&D in India is expected to contribute to a broad range of emerging technology areas, including:

• Smart grids and distributed energy integration (projects like FLEXITRANSTORE, MIGRATE, VPP4Islands)
  
  
• Cybersecurity and AI-enabled certification for critical infrastructure (CERTIFAI, certMILS, SPEAR)
  
  
• Cloud-based SCADA and RTU engineering tools (SCADALAB, CRET)
  
  
• IoT and wireless communication-based substation systems (3S-CS)
  
  
• Embedded systems for mixed criticality and real-time energy applications (EMC2, DAIS)
  
  
• Digital tools for energy efficiency in buildings, cities, and railways (GrowSmarter, Ferro Smart Grid)
  
  
• SF6-free medium voltage switchgear (LIFE36KVSF6FREE, LIFESF6FREE)
  
  

These projects, mostly co-funded through European public-private R&D programmes, position Schneider at the forefront of innovation in smart metering, energy automation, resilient grids, and carbon-free infrastructure.