House Wire: Price List, Sizes and How to Choose

What is house wire?

House wire is the insulated building wire that runs inside conduit from the distribution board to every light, fan and socket in a home. In India it is usually single-core copper with PVC insulation, sold in coils and sized by the cross-section of the copper in square millimetres (sq mm).

Ours is VIYONA wire: a multi-strand copper conductor with FR (flame-retardant) PVC insulation, made to IS 694 under ISI licence. It is made for us by a partner to our specification and sold under our VIYONA name. We do not make wire at our Marol works in Mumbai, where we manufacture switches, sockets, MCBs and boxes, and we say so plainly.

What this guide will not do is size your circuits: that is your electrician’s job, done to IS 732 for each run.

House wire price list: our VIYONA MRPs

Our current catalogue lists VIYONA house wire in six sizes, from 0.75 sq mm to 6 sq mm, each in a 45 metre and a 90 metre coil, with an MRP for each: the 1.5 sq mm costs ₹1,450 for 45 m and ₹2,740 for 90 m, and 2.5 sq mm costs ₹2,292 and ₹4,384.

The codes run 650 to 655. Each size comes in 45 m and 90 m coils and in five standard colours: black red blue yellow green. These are MRPs, inclusive of all taxes.

House wire price per meter, and the 90 meter price

Divide the coil MRP by its length and our VIYONA 1.5 sq mm house wire works out to about ₹32 per metre in a 45 m coil and about ₹30 per metre in a 90 m coil, and 2.5 sq mm to about ₹51 and ₹49, so the 90 metre coil is usually a little cheaper per metre.

The 90 m price for each size: 0.75 sq mm ₹1,545 1 sq mm ₹1,840 1.5 sq mm ₹2,740 2.5 sq mm ₹4,384 4 sq mm ₹6,544 6 sq mm ₹9,970. For 4 sq mm the two coils cost the same per metre.

Wire size for house wiring

House wiring in India commonly uses 1.5 sq mm copper wire for lights and fans and 2.5 sq mm for sockets, with heavier sizes for heavy appliance points and the main line, but the size of every run is set by your electrician for its load, its length and how it is laid, to IS 732.

That first sentence is common practice, not a prescription: 1.5 sq mm for light and fan circuits, 2.5 sq mm for socket circuits. Run length and how it is laid both change the answer.

The rule that ties it together: the MCB rating must not exceed what the wire can carry as installed. Our guide to which MCB for home gives the typical MCB for each circuit, and how to design a modern electrical layout shows how the circuits are split room by room.

1.5 sq mm wire current capacity

Our catalogue rates VIYONA 1.5 sq mm wire at 13 amps when two cables of a single-phase circuit run in conduit or trunking, and 16 amps when they are unenclosed, clipped direct to a surface or on a cable tray, because wire enclosed in a pipe sheds heat more slowly.

Most house wiring runs in conduit, so the in conduit column is usually the one that applies. The same table covers every size from 1.0 to 6.0 sq mm. 0.75 sq mm is in the price list but has no row in the technical table.

1.5 sq mm wire load capacity in watts

Multiplying our catalogue’s current rating by a 230 V supply gives a rough upper bound of about 2,990 W for 1.5 sq mm wire in conduit and about 3,680 W clipped direct, and about 4,140 W and 5,060 W for 2.5 sq mm, but these are ceilings from arithmetic, not loads to plan a circuit around.

The sum is simple: amps × 230 V = watts. It ignores start-up surges, voltage drop on a long run and the margin a circuit should keep. Not a recommendation

Wire size for 1.5 ton AC, 16 amp socket and geyser

The wire for an AC, a 16 amp socket or a geyser is sized by your electrician so that, as installed, it carries at least the rating of the MCB protecting that circuit: commonly 16A or 20A for a 1.5 ton AC, 16A for a socket circuit and 16A or 20A for a geyser.

Those MCB ratings come from our own guides. In MCB for 1, 1.5 and 2 ton AC: 1 ton: 16A 1.5 ton: 16A–20A 2 ton: 20A–25A. In which MCB for home: socket circuit 16A and geyser 16A–20A, each heavy point on its own circuit.

Then apply the rule: the wire as installed ≥ MCB rating. Read that figure against the table above, in the column for how the wire is laid; the electrician adds run length, grouping and the appliance manual. For the socket itself, see 6A vs 16A socket.

2.5 sq mm wire: price, capacity and use

VIYONA 2.5 sq mm wire, code 653, has an MRP of ₹2,292 for 45 m and ₹4,384 for 90 m, is rated in our catalogue at 18 amps in conduit and 22 amps clipped direct, and is the size commonly used for socket circuits in Indian homes, with the final choice made by your electrician.

From the same technical table: 0.8 mm insulation approx. 3.7 mm overall 7.41 ohms per km max. It is packed 12 coils per box, the same as 1.5 sq mm.

FR wire full form, and FR vs FRLS wire

FR wire’s full form is flame-retardant wire, meaning its insulation resists catching fire and does not carry a flame along its length, while FRLS wire (flame retardant, low smoke) also limits the smoke it gives off and HFFR is halogen-free flame retardant; our VIYONA wire is FR PVC.

In general terms: FR limits flame spread. FRLS also limits smoke, which matters where people must escape through corridors and stairwells. HFFR avoids the halogens in PVC, so any smoke is less corrosive and less toxic.

Ours: FR PVC We sell VIYONA wire as FR only, not FRLS or HFFR. If a specification asks for FRLS, buy wire marked FRLS.

Copper wire for house wiring

Copper is the standard conductor for house wiring in India because it conducts better than aluminium of the same size and is more flexible to work, and a multi-strand copper conductor, like our VIYONA wire, is flexible enough to pull through conduit and terminate cleanly in switches, sockets and MCBs.

The measure of copper that you can check is resistance per km. Our catalogue gives the maximum at 20°C for each size, and more copper means less resistance. Undersized copper runs hot under load, which is how insulation ages early inside a wall.

Which wire is best for home? How to judge house wire brands

The best wire for a home is the one that proves what it claims: copper conductor, the ISI mark with IS 694 and a licence number printed on the wire, an FR or FRLS marking, the full printed length, and a size your electrician chose, whatever the name on the box.

Five checks work on any coil: copper conductor IS 694 ISI mark with CM/L number FR or FRLS printed printed length: 45 m or 90 m size printed on the sheath.

Our guide on how to spot a fake ISI mark shows how to read a CM/L number and look it up. See also our electrical safety tips for Indian homes.

House wire manufacturers, HSN code and where to buy ours

VIYONA house wire is made for us by a partner manufacturer to our specification, made to IS 694 under ISI licence, and sold under our name; our catalogue lists its HSN code as 85441920, and you buy it from our dealers, by phone or by visiting us in Mumbai, not online.

Our own works in Marol, Andheri East make the parts the wire connects to: switches and sockets, and the 10 kA VIYONA MCBs and distribution boxes on our MCB distribution box page. The wire itself is made for us, not by us. Codes 650–655, HSN 85441920.

The full range is on the VIYONA electrical wire page, with cable clips from ₹35 (4 mm) to ₹205 (20 mm) MRP on the VIYONA cable clip page. What else a new home needs is in electrical accessories every Indian home must have, and who we are on our company page.