Third-quarter sales of Construction Equipment witness a robust 30 percent Y-o-Y growth.
The IndianConstruction Equipment (CE) industry maintained its ongoing growth momentum inthe third quarter of the current fiscal year by clocking a 30 per cent growthin sales volume over the third quarter sales in FY23. The growth in Y-o-Y salesfor Q3 FY24 from 27,817 units in October-December 2022 to 36,055 units inOctober-December 2023 encompasses robust growth in sales across all fivesegments.
“The CEindustry crossed the 100,000 mark for the first time last fiscal. And, thisfiscal, it has reached close to 100,000 units (93,377units) within the first threeQuarters. We are thankful to the government for having a strong focus on infradevelopment and hope to see the momentum getting better and better in themonths to come,” said V Vivekanand, President – ICEMA, and Managing Director,Caterpillar India Pvt. Ltd. “Demand across all segments of the industry hasbeen growing as a result of rapid infrastructure development in all sectors ofthe economy in line with the government’s consistent focus on infra-ledeconomic growth in the nation,” he added.
Of theoverall sales for Q3 FY24, 33,135 units were sold domestically and 2,920 unitswere exported. Sale of Earthmoving Equipment, which comprises the lion’s shareof CE sales at around 70 per cent, grew by 25 per cent over Q3 FY23 levels toreach 25,087 units. Material Handling Equipment, with a concomitant 46 per centgrowth, sold 4,482 units while Concrete Equipment sales of 3,840 unitscomprised a 43 per cent growth over the same period. Sales of Road Constructionand Material Processing Equipment stood at 1,958 and 688 units – recording anincrease of 38 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively.
While salesof the Earthmoving segment have largely been bolstered by an increase of nearly30 per cent in State governments’ capex, a 20 per cent increase in highwayconstruction activity Y-o-Y has also been a contributing factor to growth insales of both Earthmoving and Road Construction segments. The accelerated paceof infrastructure projects was primarily responsible for the 43 per cent growthexperienced by the Concrete Equipment segment and the 46 per cent boost inMaterial Handling Equipment sales, aided by a rebound in the real estate sectorin the case of Concrete Equipment and the surge in manufacturing in case ofMaterial Handling.
On aquarter-on-quarter basis too, the overall sales volumes as well as sales ineach segment registered positive growth, with overall sales up 20 per cent ascompared to 30,078 units in Q2 FY24. The segment-wise sales volumes in Q3 FY24increased by 21 per cent for Earthmoving Equipment, 10 per cent for MaterialHandling Equipment, 15 per cent for Concrete Equipment, 47 per cent for RoadConstruction Equipment, and 4.0 per cent for Material Processing Equipment.
“We arevery pleased with the sales growth in Q3 of the current fiscal and expect thepositive trend to continue over the remainder of the year,” said JaideepShekhar, Convener, ICEMA Industry Analysis and Insights Panel and ManagingDirector – Asia, Australia, and EMEAR, Terex India Pvt. Ltd. “Given thegovernment’s directive to expedite spending of the budget allocation for theinfrastructure sector for timely completion of projects in the pipeline, we areconfident that this ongoing momentum will translate into around 20 per centgrowth in CE industry sales over the whole of FY24,” he explained.
The IndianCE industry’s performance in the current fiscal year has been bolstered by theGovernment’s continued emphasis on infrastructure in the form of enhanced budgetaryallocations, as well as rapid implementation of projects in the run-up to theGeneral Elections. As a result, the overall sales figures for the CE industryin the current fiscal year have been consistently higher than those in FY2022-23, in terms of both domestic sales as well as exports.
“We atICEMA request the government to ensure that the steady pace of execution ofprojects is maintained, which is critical for the consistent growth anddevelopment of the Construction Equipment industry,” Vivekanand, further added.