Bengaluru-based integrated AV major Online Instruments is going places, quite literally. On the grand occasion of Sambandh 2024 – the celebratory event of 30 years of business excellence – the company announced a very ambitious growth plans that essentially include expansion to Western markets, going for IPO, charting a double of 700 employees and ₹750+ crore revenue.
This, apart from commencing manufacturing of interactive commercial displays at what is claimed as India’s first and world’s second largest automated CKD plant.
A very inspiring AV story is taking shape in India’s very own AV capital- Bengaluru. SIA presents a snappy account.
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As the very symbolically named event of Sambandh 2024 – celebrating 30 years of business excellence and building relations at Online Instruments – began to unfold on Thursday, 16 May, in Bengaluru at the grand ITC Gardenia, the excitement that ranted the air, and the eagerness of a vast gathering comprising OEMs, Partners, and Consultants hinted at some ambitious announcements.
It did live upto the expectations soon, as Shivanand Mahashetti, Online Instrument’s Co-Founder and Managing Director took the podium after the inaugural formalities disclosing the salient features of a script that had been in the making for some time now.
The revelations from the Sambandh 2024 are truly ambitious:
- Commencing manufacturing of interactive commercial displays at what is claimed as India’s first and world’s second largest and automated CKD (completely knocked down) plant- by mid-July this year
- Expanding business operations globally- to the Western markets of UK and the US, apart from Australia down under.
- Charting the double credential of 700 employees and ₹750+ crore revenues by the end of fiscal year 2024-25. And
- Tapping the capital market by going for IPO in September 2025
IPO: Shedding some wider and deeper light on the company’s financials, Shivanand revealed that the company posted a revenue of ₹ 430 crore for the current year, while its subsidiary enterprise LOGIC AV – manufacturer of display panels and AV accessories – crossed the ₹ 100 crore mark.
Buoyed by the phenomenal growth and the market potential the company decided to tap the capital market in September 2025.
“Going publicly listed company will bring us larger competencies not only for stronger establishment but also capability to acquire new technologies,” he said. “It will also help the company to expand into global markets.
According to him, the expansion initiatives are already under way, and will soon have major announcements of the kind.
Mahesh Ballad, Co-Founder and CFO the company explained Online Instrument’s corporate social responsible activities, and how they had been contributing majorly to the cause of education in rural India.
Global expansion: Manoj Kumar Choudhury, Senior Director at Online, explained the company’s plans for seeking overseas fortunes. Having set up operations in the Philippines and Singapore in the East, and Dubai in the Middle East, it’s time for them to reach out into the West.
Further elaborating the expansion map, Suhas Mahashetti, Senior Manager-Global Strategies said the company will set up direct presence in Taiwan in the next one month’s time, followed by the UK and the US by the end of the year.
Post the announcements and plans, Online Founders felicitated its Partners with mementoes.
Leading AV players who took the podium to commend Online’s exceptional growth and business excellence included Puneeth Sethi, Vice-President, Samsung; Hemendu Sinha, Senior Vice-President & Business Head, LG; Vibhor Khanna, Vice-President-APAC, Wesco Anixter; Rajesh Mittal, Vice-President-SAARC for Q-Sys; Mradul Sharma, Managing Director, 3CDN; Mahesh Kumar, Director of Sales-India, Extron, besides others.
Manufacturing ICDs locally: Online had been nurturing the dream of ICD panel manufacturing for long, since the time it commenced manufacturing LED lighting solutions under the brands OrangePlus via its subsidiary Mahabell Lighting set up in Bengaluru.
The company’s aggression in panel design also fuelling the desire for manufacturing the ICD panels, the initiative had been in the making for some time. It reportedly invested ₹ 100 crore into the initiative, building a 1,25,000 square feet facility near Tumakuru for the purpose.
The intended plant with a manufacturing capacity of 1,25,000 panels per year, will roll out ICD panels of all sizes, ranging from 43 inches to 86 inches, Manoj Kumar Choudhury told SIA. The significance of this plant is that it is not only India’s first, and world’s second largest plant, but a majority of the operations are automated.
“They are run by as many as 11 robots,” he said, adding, they intend to make it even better as they moved forward in time.
Another important feature with the plant is that it manufactures the components required for making ICDs- which had been a big deterrent for many years. Now, with the components’ making also turning into reality in India, it’s like almost end-to-end indigenous manufacturing.
