Power cuts eat into traders' goodwill

PUNE: While sales of electric appliances like coolers and air-conditioners suffer, the power cuts are also indirectly eating into years of goodwill earned by traders, through the increasing use of inverters. Suhas Gite, who heads a 49-year-old firm, is livid because of gadget failure caused by inverters. "An increasing number of motor burnouts are being reported because inverters do not offer the correct voltage output .The customer feels that we have sold them a defective fan. Ditto for tubelights and other devices." "Many seasonal inverter manufacturers are causing problems. These tacky devices offer an output voltage of 280V, while the appliances are designed for 220-230V. Customers should not be attracted by cheap prices. They should go in for dependable, reputed brands,"says Surendra Sancheti of Copper Connections. "While buying an inverter, customers should ensure that it gives a sinewave or quasi-sinewave output. They will need technical help to ensure this,"says Balkrishnan Karwa of Aroma Power. Bharat Mehta points out that inverters are not maintenance- free devices and most dealers do not offer good after-sales service. Nevertheless, both Karwa and Sancheti admit that inverter sales have gone up by 50 to 100 per cent since December 2004, when the power cuts were first introduced. Like most other commodities, valueadded tax (VAT) too is playing further havoc with electricals. "Some goods have a tax holiday, others don't. You will see tax of Rs 12.50 in the same price bracket for one device and Rs 50 in another device. Billing and stocking has suffered due to VAT,"says Mehta.