- MV Rajasekhar, Chairman & Managing Director, BEML

What is the present size and growth rate of the hydraulic excavators market in India? How has the market evolved in the last couple of years?
The market size and growth rate of hydraulic excavators as per ICEMA reports is as below:

Crawler excavators	FY2020	FY2021
Domestic sales (Nos.)	19,196	20,476
Exports (Nos.)	1,042	1,376
Total sales (Nos.)	20,238	21,852

Initially during first quarter of FY2021 there was decline in sales of hydraulic excavators due to pandemic. During second quarter the sales have improved and subsequently, during third and fourth quarter the sales of crawler excavators has picked up and ended with a total sales growth of 8 per cent compared to previous FY2020.

What are the various product offerings from your company in this segment?
BEML is indigenously manufacturing and supplying various capacities of hydraulic excavators with latest technologies:

BE75 hydraulic excavator – 7.5 tonne class

BE220G hydraulic excavator – 22 tonne class

BE300LC hydraulic excavator – 30 tonne class

BE700 hydraulic excavator – 70 tonne class

BE1000-1/BE1000E-1 hydraulic excavator – 100 tonne class (diesel and electric versions)

BE1800E/BE1800D – 180 tonne class (electric and diesel versions)

In light of the plans of infrastructure creation and reforms in mining, what opportunities do you foresee for hydraulic excavators?
The government’s Infrastructure Development Plan is instrumental in creating huge demand for construction equipment including hydraulic excavators.
- Small and medium-end hydraulic excavators’ up to 30T class are generally used in Infrastructure Projects and higher capacity hydraulic excavators’ 70T class and above are generally used in Mining Projects.
- India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The Union Government’s vision is to become a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.
- The total capital expenditure in infrastructure sectors in India during fiscals 2020 to 2025 is projected at ~Rs 111 lakh crore. The sectors includes energy sector, roads, railways, urban (smart cities, MRTS, affordable housing), ports, airports and irrigation.
The plan will result in a huge demand and growth for hydraulic excavators in the near future. Coal mining companies are planning for higher capacity mining projects to increase production; which requires deployment of higher capacity hydraulic excavators (100T and 180T class). Hence, there will be a requirement of higher capacity hydraulic excavators in future in coal mining sector.

Moreover, renewable power generation is picking up with increasing use of solar power; which is available most of the time in India. Also, solar density is very high to make it viable in future.Once the solar panels become more acceptable and affordable the requirement of power from thermal power stations reduces. It is already being felt in the most developed countries like US, Germany and many other countries. Hence, the requirements of hydraulic excavators from coal mining sector will either reduce or remain stagnant. However, in non-coal mining sectors like iron ore mining (steel), limestone mining (cement), aluminium, zinc, etc. there will be demand and continuous growth for hydraulic excavators in future.

What are the major changes taking place in terms of technology? What are the key market opportunities?
Keeping up with the latest trend in vehicle system electrification and advanced safety systems, BEML is geared up for developing high-end shovels with AC electrical motors and drives. BEML has already developed and supplied 100 and 180 tonne class electrically driven hydraulic excavators with 6.6 kV HT induction motor as prime mover.

These machines have zero emission, low maintenance and ownership cost. Further BEML is also geared up to meet CEV stage IV diesel engine norms to meet upcoming statutory requirement for mining and construction equipment. BEML equipment have also been upgraded with GPS ready cabin by facilitating vehicle critical data portability through single universal port for fleet management system by our customers.

While migrating from conventional design, digitalisation and advanced technologies are being introduced, in phased manner; in BEML excavators by including telematics-based real time monitoring, data analytics and preventive and predictive maintenance which provides prognostic solutions. BEML is also working and focusing to implement ADAS (Advanced driver assistance system) and AI-based autonomous equipment as these technologies creates several opportunities for market growth.

What are the major challenges faced in this segment? How do you plan to overcome those?
Some of construction equipment are deployed in remote areas where approach is difficult and lack of proper maintenance facilities. BEML is well-networked with its regional offices, district offices, activity centres and service centres spread across the nation to provide effective after-sales-support to customers. Further, BEML has deployed service engineers at pit heads to monitor the equipment closely. BEML is offering maintenance contracts, recon exchange of aggregates, rehabilitation of used equipment, technical audit, upgradation of equipment, service centre repair facilities and condition based monitoring system; as an overall product support to improve availability, increase productivity and to reduce the operating cost of equipment.

Non-availability of skilled operators and maintenance staff in some areas: BEML’s factory trained service teams are posted all over country, who in turn are training the customer operators and maintenance staff. BEML is also providing product wise training at manufacturing plants to operators and maintenance staff of customers. To develop the skill of operators BEML has adopted the latest simulator-based training technology both at selected project and at manufacturing plant.

How do you look at the future market for hydraulic excavators in India?
With the future infrastructure development plans in place; we envisage there will be demand and continuous growth for hydraulic excavators in infrastructure sector in India. As far as coal mining sector is concerned, there will be demand for higher capacity hydraulic excavators. However, with renewable energy picking up, the requirements of hydraulic excavators from coal mining sector will either reduce or will remain stagnant in future. However, in non-coal mining sectors like iron ore mining (steel), limestone mining (cement), aluminium, zinc, etc. there will be demand and continuous growth for hydraulic excavators in future.