Lighting has been one of the most valuable technologies ever invented and commercialised. Starting with oil lamps, followed by street lamps, Edison's incandescent bulb in the 19th century, and LED today. The industry was relatively stable for the last 100 years, but the emergence of cost-competitive LEDs has caused a paradigm shift in the lighting industry. Emergence of LED is forcing a change in the dynamics of the industry and glass usage. Historically, the incumbents had an edge in lighting manufacturing because of the specialised glass furnaces needed for traditional bulbs. However, high-volume LED production has allowed new entrants in to the market, eating away at the share for traditional glass lighting companies. In this article the author takes a tour of the Indian lighting glass industry and its glass suppliers and discusses some of the challenges that the sector is now facing.
