India Lighting Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2030)

India Lighting Market Trends and Insights

LED price erosion and energy-efficiency mandates

Mandatory ECBC compliance for new commercial buildings plus BEE star-label requirements have pushed developers toward high-efficacy fixtures that deliver 35%–50% energy savings relative to baseline codes.^{[1]Bureau of Energy Efficiency, “Energy Conservation Building Code,” BEEIndia.gov.in} UJALA’s competitive tenders cut retail LED bulb prices by 90% from 2014 figures and distributed 36.87 crore units, making LEDs the universal default even beyond public-sector programs. As electricity tariffs climb and corporate net-zero pledges gain momentum, enterprises now treat lighting retrofits as first-wave decarbonization measures. The result is sustained double-digit volume demand for premium-efficiency chips, optics, and drivers across commercial, industrial, and high-end residential builds. Vendors that certify products under the latest Super ECBC thresholds are defending margins despite broader price competition.

Rapid urban infrastructure build-out (Smart Cities Mission)

The Smart Cities Mission has approved USD 24.7 billion in projects and completed 5,909 work orders by July 2024; each integrated command center specifies connected street, area, and façade lighting that can be monitored in real time.^{[2]ICC Technical Cooperation Association, “India’s Smart City Project—Updates and Future,” ICC-TCA.org} Municipalities increasingly bundle lighting into traffic, safety, and environmental dashboards, turning luminaires into edge nodes for broader city-data platforms. Vendors able to supply interoperable controls, adaptive-dimming algorithms, and cyber-secure firmware are winning multiyear framework contracts. Because second-tier cities replicate flagship designs from metros such as Pune and Varanasi, contract pipelines extend well into the medium term. The clustering of projects also shortens payback cycles for specialized installers and keeps warehouse throughput high for component suppliers.

Government procurement (UJALA and SLNP)

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has installed 1.30 crore LED streetlights under SLNP and continues to refresh tenders in five-year maintenance cycles that guarantee predictable volumes.^{[3]Press Information Bureau, “Year-End Review of Ministry of Power,” PIB.gov.in}Bulk orders enable domestic manufacturers to amortize capex and negotiate long-term silicon and phosphor supply deals at favorable hedged prices. UJALA’s Gram-level rollouts further anchor demand in cash-constrained rural zones, creating a national floor price that private brands must match. However, delayed municipal payments can stretch working capital for smaller contractors, a risk that favors well-capitalized companies or those partnered with infrastructure financiers. Replication of the EESL model by Southeast Asian and African governments positions Indian OEMs as template exporters.

Growth of Tier-II/III city façade-lighting projects

Projects such as the programmable illumination of Sudarshan Setu in Gujarat and riverfront upgrades in Surat showcase growing aesthetic ambitions outside metro centers.^{[4]Business Standard, “Orient Electric Illuminates Sudarshan Setu,” Business-Standard.com} Local governments now insist on dynamic RGB programming, heritage-friendly color temperatures, and low-glare optics to boost tourism and civic pride. Mid-range control gear and IP-rated fixtures tailored for hot-humid zones are therefore in high demand. Regional EPC players able to offer end-to-end design, simulation, and commissioning win contracts over generic lamp sellers. This trend widens the addressable market for specialized luminaire makers and DMX-control software vendors targeting non-metro budgets.

High upfront retrofit cost for SMEs and households

Small factories and neighborhood retailers often face payback periods of 3-5 years on full-facility LED conversions, making many defer projects despite 40%–60% potential energy savings.^{[5]Council on Energy, Environment and Water, “Awareness and Adoption of Energy Efficiency in Indian Homes,” CEEW.in} Limited awareness of lifecycle economics keeps decision-makers focused on sticker price rather than total cost of ownership. Although micro-finance and utility-on-bill schemes exist, uptake remains low in non-metro clusters because of cumbersome documentation and perceived technology risk. This capex hurdle slows penetration of connected fixtures and sensors that carry higher dollar-per-lumen pricing compared with basic retrofit bulbs.

Fragmented distribution and counterfeit products

Roughly 76% of LED bulbs sampled from informal retail outlets in 2023 failed basic BIS safety tests, eroding consumer trust and undercutting branded margins.^{[6]Reuters Staff, “India’s 76 percent LED bulbs found to be spurious—survey,” Reuters.com} Because wholesalers-cum-electricians dominate 46.8% of the 2024 volume, every project involves multiple intermediaries where off-spec inventory can slip in. Enforcement of BIS compulsory registration remains uneven, and many small shops lack the technical means to verify holograms or QR authenticity codes. Organized players, therefore, spend heavily on channel audits and serialization technology, costs that dilute profitability and complicate rural expansion strategies.

Segment Analysis

By Product Type: Luminaires Lead Value and Velocity

The luminaires and fixtures segment commanded a 59.3% revenue slice of the India lighting market in 2024 and is projected to grow at a 12.20% CAGR through 2030, underlining its dual role as both volume and value driver of the India lighting market. This category’s rise stems from Smart Cities Mission tenders that specify integrated, sensor-ready fixtures and from private developers bundling lighting with building-automation contracts to cut commissioning time. Luminaires frequently anchor façade-lighting packages, earning higher margins than commodity lamps because they embed optics, drivers, and on-board diagnostics that meet Bureau of Energy Efficiency specifications. Contractors targeting metro rail, airport-terminal, and data-center projects also prefer turnkey luminaires to minimize field wiring errors and accelerate sign-off, extending the segment’s edge in the India lighting market. 

Second-order momentum comes from programmable RGB architectural jobs in Tier-II/III cities, where local authorities seek tourism branding without paying metro-grade premiums. Mid-range manufacturers that certify to BIS safety rules are winning here by pairing aluminum extrusion heat sinks with DMX controls that survive high-humidity coastal climates. Lamps, by contrast, continue to cede ground as price erosion compresses margins and government procurement resets bulk tender benchmarks. Even so, retrofit CFL-to-LED bulb swaps persist in the residential channel, cushioning lamps’ volume decline but not reversing the structural tilt toward higher-value luminaires. 

By Light Source: LED Technology Sets the Benchmark

LED solutions held an 82.2% India lighting market share in 2024 and are projected to post the fastest 12.40% CAGR to 2030. The India lighting market size is tied to LEDs for commercial ceilings, roadway poles, and industrial high-bays, reflecting deeper penetration into price-sensitive rural installations. UJALA and Street Lighting National Program tenders normalized LED economics, while ECBC “Super” ratings funnel premium demand toward ≥150-lm/W luminaires that still command price premiums. Conventional fluorescent and HID technologies now survive mainly in legacy high-temperature factories where drivers face derating risks, but even those niches are shrinking as ruggedized LED engine platforms pass accelerated lifecycle tests. 

LED adoption also benefits from emerging Li-Fi pilots that turn luminaires into data nodes, allowing facilities to overlay broadband capacity without radio-frequency congestion. Wipro Lighting’s alliance with pureLiFi exemplifies how vendors link illumination with connectivity to protect margins in a rapidly commoditizing diode market. At the same time, the Production-Linked Incentive Scheme for white goods subsidizes chip-on-board back-end lines, further localizing the LED bill of materials and improving cost resilience against import shocks, an upside for the India lighting industry as a whole. 

By Distribution Channel: Specialists Accelerate

Wholesalers and electricians accounted for 46.8% of the India lighting market in 2024, reflecting entrenched contractor relationships and credit cycles. Yet the lighting specialists and “others” cohort is forecast to capture a 13.80% CAGR to 2030—more than double the wholesale channel’s pace—by bundling design consulting, IoT commissioning, and post-install analytics. These firms cater to airports, IT campuses, and luxury retail chains that budget for lifecycle performance rather than first-cost metrics, pushing connected-lighting attach rates above 40%. 

The India lighting market’s shift toward specialists is further propelled by BIS counterfeit crackdowns that reward traceable supply chains. Signify’s smart-warehouse execution for Pilkington Automotive shows how specialists overlay asset-tracking beacons and predictive-maintenance dashboards to justify premiums. Meanwhile, direct sales to developers sustain share but face tighter working-capital cycles as real-estate firms press payment terms beyond 90 days. As a result, vendors diversify toward project-financing partnerships to secure early-stage cash flows, a trend likely to reshape the India lighting industry’s go-to-market mix through 2030. 

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Application: Commercial Dominance, Outdoor Upside

Commercial installations generated 41.7% of 2024 India lighting market revenues on the back of rapid office-stock expansion and green-building certifications. Building operators weigh occupant wellness, glare indices, and circadian-tuning capabilities, which lift average selling prices far above residential norms. In contrast, outdoor lighting is set to clock the highest 13.41% CAGR, powered by Smart Cities and highway-corridor projects that insert adaptive-dimming clauses to cut municipal energy bills. 

Industrial estates follow close behind as process manufacturers chase ESG scorecards that pledge 30%–40% power-use cuts. Warehouse operators like the e-commerce 3PLs in Bengaluru now embed occupancy sensors and daylight-harvesting logic to extend driver life past 60,000 hours, further boosting the India lighting market size tied to industrial retrofits. Residential demand remains volume-heavy but price-tethered, cushioning factory utilizations yet providing limited margin lift. Over the forecast window, commercial retrofits and outdoor smart-pole deployments will remain the core battlegrounds where vendors differentiate on controls, cybersecurity, and service SLAs. 

Geography Analysis

India sits at the center of this supply web, and the Production-Linked Incentive scheme for white goods alone targets USD 23 billion in incremental output and USD 8.8 billion in exports over five years, reinforcing the India lighting market size advantages tied to local value addition. Component dependence remains a vulnerability; however, Indian buyers imported USD 12 billion worth of Chinese electronics and another USD 6 billion from Hong Kong in FY 2023-24, exposing LED driver costs to currency swings and freight bottlenecks. Even so, robust urban construction pipelines keep channel inventories fluid, and city-scale retrofits in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Pune continue to draw bid interest from global majors eager to tap the India lighting market share locked in municipal annual maintenance contracts. Rising foreign direct investment in smart-street-pole factories along the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor underpins a steady flow of high-Bay and facade-lighting exports to Southeast Asia.