The team has more experience and depth, is better prepared and is riding a wave of confidence after winning 10 consecutive games to claim the HRV Cup last summer.
There was plenty of hype the last time the Volts qualified for the lucrative tournament but they bowed out after two rather limp performances.
Four years on, up to 10 players from that squad of 15 will next month return to India for a shot at a little redemption and the multimillion-dollar pay cheque awaiting the winning team.
Redmond (33), who opened the batting alongside Brendon McCullum at the tournament, reckons this time it will be different.
''The last time we went over there I think we got overawed by the occasion,'' the former New Zealand test opener said.
''I don't know, perhaps we thought just getting there was the prize and being able to play against those sides.
"But now we are a few years on and we are not looking just to go over there and be part of it, we actually want to compete.
''Coming off last season and the way we played, barring the one-dayers, our momentum is really good. Then you look at the depth of the side and the amount of international and ex-international players we've got in the side - it is a good base.
''There is also a good group of young players coming through.''
Pace bowler Jacob Duffy (19) was the HRV Cup's joint leading wicket-taker last season with 15 wickets at an average of 21.66. He shared the title with team-mate Nick Beard (15 at 12.73).
Beard, the 23-year-old left-arm spinner, was part of the Otago squad in 2009 but did not make the starting XI.
His combination with New Zealand's leading twenty20 spin bowler, Nathan McCullum, shapes as a real weapon for the Volts.
All-rounder Jimmy Neesham (22) and batsman Michael Bracewell (22) are also capable of imposing themselves on games.
But it is the experienced campaigners like Redmond that Otago will look to the most. The right-hander hopes to pick up where he left off last season.
He scored back-to-back 100s in Otago's opening Plunket Shield game and finished the season as the tournament's leading scorer with 941 runs at 55.35.
Redmond lives in England and only arrived in Dunedin last Saturday, so he missed Otago's five-game series against a combined New Zealand and Northern Districts team in Tauranga last week.
But he was in good touch for his club, Wigan, and feels his game is in good form.
The key to scoring runs in India, he believes, is mastering spin bowling.
''When you come up against those subcontinent bowlers, it is all about knowing where you can score. If you don't have your game sorted, in the sense you know what areas you are going to target, you can come undone.''
The team leaves Dunedin on Wednesday bound for Sri Lanka for a series of warm-up games.
The Volts head to India on September 13 and their opening game is against the Faisalabad Wolves on September 17.
