People again resort to candles as power outages become common across the country nowadays – Courtesy photo

The local IPS market is heating up due to the scheduled load shedding recently introduced by the government. The IPS of many brands is not meeting the demand in the market. The market of various imported IPS brands has come under pressure. The price has also increased slightly.

Traders said, in the last four to five years, many have given up the business of IPS due to adequate power supply and low load shedding. Besides, many companies have reduced the production of IPS and focused on other products including batteries.

Now there is a crisis of IPS in the market due to sudden surge in demand. Few brands of IPS, including the IPS of domestic company Rahimafrooz, are not meeting the current demand.

While there are some imported IPS, including Indian brand Luminous, those are in short supply in the market. But many traders said that the battery crisis is more noticeable than IPS shortage. Many companies are unable to sell IPS machines due to battery shortage.

Singer, Butterfly, Rahimafrooz, Hamko, Sony, Navana, Philips, Samsung, Anik - different brands of IPS and batteries are available in the market. Some imported brands of IPS, including Indian Luminous, Microtech are also available in the market.

Apart from these, IPSs are available from various domestic technology companies. But Rahimafrooz IPS has gained huge popularity in Bangladesh. Besides, some small privately owned companies are also currently manufacturing IPS.

A few weeks ago, when the government announced regular load shedding, the demand for IPS and IPS batteries suddenly increased. The crisis became more intense after the announcement of load shedding schedule on July 18.

Visiting various markets in the capital, including Vijaynagar, Jatrabari and Mirpur, it was seen that many shops did not have IPS of domestic and foreign brands. In addition, many stores did not have IPS batteries.

IPS makers themselves said that they are unable to manufacture IPS due to lack of batteries. They also said that battery production is also disrupted due to the shortage of raw materials and the increase in prices.

General Battery Company Ltd’s Managing Director Rashedul Hasan Rony told The Business Post, “IPS sales had decreased to a large extent due to a reduction in load shedding and the presence of generators in large corporate institutions. At the same time, the manufacturers reduced the production of IPS batteries.

“However, due to the recent load shedding, the demand for IPS as well as IPS batteries has suddenly increased. Almost all the batteries in the market had gone out of stock in the first seven days of load shedding,” he added.

He further said, “After the start of the battery production process, it takes 20-21 days to get the finished product from the factory. After that, it takes a few more days to come to the market. As a result, there is a gap between the demand and supply of IPS and batteries during this period.

“In addition, due to the high price of the USD, many people reduced their imports of raw materials. As a result, there is a shortage of raw materials in battery production. Sulfuric acid, which was priced at Tk 21 per litre, has now gone up to Tk 45. The prices of lead and other raw materials have also increased.”

According to Bangladesh Accumulator and Battery Manufacturers Association (BABMA), more than 1.8 lakh batteries are produced annually in the country to meet domestic demand. Out of them, 4 lakh 37 thousand batteries are used in IPS and UPS.

There are about 20 battery manufacturing companies in the country. Apart from Rahimafrooz – the largest company in this sector, General Battery Company, Hamko, Navana Battery, Rangs, Panna Group, and Rimso Battery are currently leading the market in lead-acid batteries.

AKM Kofil Uddin Mahmud, owner of IPS Mart in Mirpur, said, “The sale of IPS has increased by 10-15 per cent. But the demand is much more. IPS sales are low due to the battery crisis. Battery demand used to be met by domestic production, so it was not imported.

“Now due to sudden increase in demand we are not able to supply batteries. Manufacturing companies say that they are out of stock.”

The leader of an online organization named BD IPS, Belayet Hossain said, “We used to have IPSs of almost all brands. I could deliver if ordered. However, we cannot now because we have only one brand of IPSs.

“IPS supply has fallen short in the market due to the sudden increase of load shedding.

The leader of a wholesale business named MK IPS of Jatrabari, Md Khokon said, “We import IPS of India’s Luminous brand. It’s been a few weeks since a large order of IPS has arrived. There is a lot of pressure on us, although we have not run out of stock yet. If the present situation continues, I cannot fathom what will happen in the coming days.”