Amidstthe economic growth slowdown, CASE India has focussed on developing cleverinnovations to make their equipment more efficient, and help serve theircustomers needs in a better way, says PuneetVidyarthi, Brand Leader, CASE India.
What is your outlook for the constructionequipment sector in the country?
Owing toa number of factors including the NBFC crises, elections, and extendedmonsoons, construction equipment sector is moving slowly. However, it is movingsteadily. The Government of India has been very supportive through FY2019.
Industry-wise,this year has been a remarkable year for the construction sector. To cite somerecent opportunities by the government in a bid to further give a push to thecountry’s infrastructure, the government has set up a task force to draw upplans for building infrastructure worth `100-lakh-crore ($1.4-trillion)over the next five years.
The NHAIhas been spending nearly `70,000-crore annually on road construction; NHAI is also trying toinvolve private investments to improve the sector’s crises. With aiding stepstaken to improve the sectors’ monetarily crises, we expect some stability inthe demand in the near future.
The nextyear could bring some good news from the construction sector and we will lookforward to each one of them. We expect that the impact of recent measuresannounced to re-boot the economy and infrastructure sector will be visible incoming months. We also believe that once the current phase is over, we willhave our industry booming, with maximum growth in volumes and investment.
In the given economic scenario, how have youperformed in terms of Y-o-Y growth/slump?
CASEIndia has been in sync with the industry by providing our ‘best-in-class’ heavyduty equipment range. We aspire to grow faster and ‘position better’ in overallproduct segment in the future.
What are the trends that are continuingdriving the sales of Construction Equipment?
Themajor demand pullers have been our range of Backhoe Loaders and Compactors. Also,our latest upgrade of the advanced Eagle-Eye Telematics solution, which is aGPS-based system for monitoring and device tampering alerts, is the mostexclusive-tech feature which makes the equipment more reliable as compared toothers in the market.
What, in your opinion, have been the stresspoints due to which your performance has been impacted, if at all?
Amidstthe slow economic growth, infrastructure and construction activity have alsoplummet to lower levels. As mentioned above, the NBFC crises, elections andextended monsoons have led to construction equipment sector moving slowly,however it is moving steadily. Continued slowdown in project awards, paymentdelays to contractors, and the overall uncertainty in the economy has led to asharp decline in expenditure on roads in FY2020.
For now,we at CASE are recalibrating our plans, according to the demand. We expect thatthe impact of recent measures announced to re-boot the economy andinfrastructure sector will be visible in coming months.
Whichbold actions should you urgently take to propel change and stay ahead ofcompetition?
R&Dis a key element in the company’s vision. Our focusvaries from tech integrated solutions to BS IV equipped machineries for engineefficiency and uptime of the machine thus increasing productivity andreliability of the equipment. Depending upon the ‘type of projects’ and ‘type ofland’, our product range is also designed with ROPS/HVAC cabins for greateroperator comfort. Weput a lot of emphasis on innovation and research work. This helps us in servingour customers’ need in a better way and remain ahead in the market.
Are there any initiatives that you areundertaking at your company towards hybrid or electric equipment’s?
Theconcept of hybrid and electric powdered operations is globally accepted andflourishing. However, it will require serious effort, efficient R&D, andtechnology implementation to bring them to Indian CE manufacturing landscape.
OurR&D team constantly endeavours to develop clever innovations to makeequipment more efficient. IOT, Industry 4.0 revolution, Hybrid and electricalequipments are the next big changes being foreseen in the constructiontechnology industry. These technological updates will not only revolutionizethe practice of designing in the industry but also bring a surge in sales.
Would you like to share with our readers thenew products and services that you plan to launch/showcase at EXCON 2019?
CASE will be showcasing its entire gamut ofproducts at EXCON 2019 and we expect the same would draw visitor’s attention toour booth.
“We puta lot of emphasis on innovation and research work. This helps us in serving ourcustomers’ need in a better way and remain ahead in the market.”