The Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association (ICEMA) elected their President for the period 2021-23 during its Annual General Meeting held virtually on July 19, 2021. Mr Dimitrov Krishnan, Managing Director, Volvo Construction Equipment India, will lead ICEMA, the apex association of CE industry.

ICEMA has been working towards becoming more articulate and aims to be the credible voice of the Indian constriction industry. The association has devised several key initiatives to work on, one of which is the Vision Plan 2030. This plan charts the roadmap for the Indian construction industry for the coming 10 years.

Speaking about this prestigious role, Dimitrov said, "For me, this is an opportunity to give back to the industry which has given me so much in the last 27 years." He adds that the task ahead is clear and that it is strongly linked to the Vision Plan 2030. The construction equipment industry in India has the potential to grow by 3 times its current size (to $25 billion) to become the second-largest construction industry in the world.

This endeavour is driven by focusing on three areas - Building a sustainable demand for the industry, creating a robust operating ecosystem that can support the industry, and establishing a stable foundation using skilling capabilities.

"In this regard, we need to strengthen the ICEMA by building a strong pool of people who can support the association, increase the participation of members and governance where everyone feels involved", Dimitrov adds.

To meet the 2030 Vision, ICEMA is working with the GOI’s National Infrastructure Pipeline, to harness key opportunities. They are looking to attract technology investments to scale up manufacturing of construction equipment and components, to meet the domestic and international demand comfortably.

He also talks about the uncertainty and volatility that that the industry has been battling since the last 2 years due to various factors like the 2019 elections, IL&FS crisis followed by the Covid complications.

The industry is also facing some immediate concerns like that of rising steel prices which are putting tremendous pressure on the supply chain of OEMs. Added to which are issues like, world-wide shipping disruptions, cash flow crunch in the market and the threat of a third wave leading to further constraints.

To combat these challenges, ICEMA aims at working closely with the Central and State Governments to create a sustained demand in the industry.

Dimitrov believes that the inherent resilience of our country and the scope of growth offered by it will be strong demand drivers for infrastructure development, thus generating robust opportunities for the construction equipment industry.