The current market conditions are tough for motor graders since the projects are not active due to the coronavirus impact. However, the long term prospects are intact as there are a lot of projects underway and infrastructure development is still the top priority for the country.

Motor graders are special purpose machines used for grading and levelling of ground surfaces. Major applications are in road projects, airports, urban infrastructure and mining where grading and levelling is needed. Demand for motor graders is picking up with the road projects are on fast track. Rural road projects also use motor graders with some motor grader manufacturers offering customised compact products suiting the applications.

Market trends
The motor grader market has shown continuous upward growth trend in the past few years for the simple reason that grading has become an important action in the current infrastructure development arena. With quality and time becoming prominence in today's project execution, use of special machines to do grading in a time-bound and efficient manner has gained prominence. Currently, roads and highways and airports development are the key areas where motor graders are used in large volume. Mining has specific applications for large size variants. Even the developments in urban infrastructure have some place for using motor graders.

Overall
there is a positive market for motor graders currently. Puneet Vidyarthi, Brand Leader, CASE India says, "Sale of motor graders follow very closely the trends of expenditure on the construction of new roads and the maintenance of the road network, so demand for machines will largely depend on the speed at which existing and future road projects are executed. Since the new government's focus is clearly on infrastructure growth, we are expecting the grader industry to reach 1,500 by 2022. Big ticket projects like Sagarmala, Bharatmala, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway have helped speed up the demand of CASE India' motor grader range."

As per the present market scenario, Nischal Mehrotra, Director-Sales and Marketing, LiuGong India expects "the demand for motor graders is likely to grow by 10 per cent over 2019." According to him, sectors such as roads (including national highways, state highways, rural roads and village roads) and mining are driving the demand for motor graders in India. Motor graders have also applications in canal bank cutting, snow removal, ditching and trenching. Like for the whole construction equipment market, the year just ended was not really good for motor graders. "The year 2019 saw a downturn in the overall CE sector. Our numbers didn't grow but we are able to retain the same numbers as of 2018," says Mehrotra.

According to VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India, it is always the road segment which is the demand driver for motor grader business in India. He observes,"In the recent year, there was a reduction in the road construction activity which also reflected on the sales of motor graders in India. However, bigger capacity motor graders are required in projects like railway freight corridors, irrigation, river linking projects, tunnels, ports, airports, dam construction and in mining industry. Whenever there is a greenfield project coming up, motor graders are definitely required to develop the project site." Regarding the performance last year, he says, "Even though, we registered a growth for 2019, there was a dip of the total market for motor graders in 2019 compared to what it was in 2018. But we expect 2020 to reverse this trend."

Compared to other motor grader brands in Indian market, XCMG is new to the market. Sakthikumar adds, "Since we are a late entrant into this market, we have studied various already available motor grader specifications and have tried to improve upon the same, so that customer gets full value for their investment in our product. Our aim is to give best of the quality at very competitive prices backed by very good after-sales service. In fact, before getting the machines into the market, we got our service engineers trained fully well and also have sufficient spares inventory."

Demand drivers
As mentioned, the overall infrastructure developments happening in the country are driving the demand of motor graders. According to Vidyarthi, the constant support of the government via its project announcements in the Budget 2020 provides a great help in boosting the demand of the motor graders in the market. Motor grader is a versatile equipment used in various construction activities, hence it becomes a crucial part of the construction activity. He adds, "As the government is putting its focus on infrastructure and maintenance of road projects, we can assume a further acceleration in the demand of this equipment in the future."

Last year, the government announced introducing new projects in the infrastructure industry to pace up the performance of the sector. This year's budget further announced the execution and planning of such projects to revive the growth of the economy. Hence "we are hopeful that this year will help in accelerating the growth of the industry and will help the business as well,"says Vidyarthi.

According to Mehrotra, increased impetus given to infrastructure sector especially roads and highways sector in the current scenario, is expected to be the main growth driver followed by railways, airports and irrigation.

Sakthikumar adds, "The investment in the road segment is a major factor which drives the motor grader business. We expect more projects to come up in roads and railways in the coming days which will help the markets to grow for motor graders."

Technology trends
Motor grader is a versatile product used in various construction activities. Hence, introduction of more technological features in the motor grader will increase its operational efficiency and will give better output.

Vidyarthi elaborates on the technology features in CASE motor graders, "CASE India's motor grader is a flexible equipment and can be put to various uses. It comes with a fuel-efficient FPT engine, which provides outstanding performance, fast response time and best-in-class fuel economy. To handle the shock caused by uneven surface of the sites, CASE India's grader range comes with added accumulators which act as a shock absorber so that the shock doesn't get transmitted to the structure or operator hence increasing operator safety. To handle the tough terrain conditions, CASE India's motor graders are equipped with hydraulic pitch control feature which helps operator to control moldboard pitch adjustment from cabin itself. Our equipment is also equipped with ROPs and FOPs which ensures safety of machine as well as operator.

CASE India offers a range of graders which include CRDI electronic engines for on-board diagnostics, having laptop connectivity to download the entire data log and analyse the past and ongoing operations and also to be able to get to the root cause of any failure that may occur during operation. Additionally, its Eagle Eye Telematics solution is also available in its graders, which provides real time alert and geo-fencing features for better usage of the machine.

Mehrotra says, "Technology trends start with the engine, followed by transmission, GPS, fleet management system etc. All mechanical engines which were used once are now being slowly replaced by variable horse power and electronic fuel injection engines. This multiple curve engine will deliver power according to the load requirement. Transmissions are moving to automatic power shift type, where the user or rather operator is relieved from the conventional gear changing process. This latest automatic power shift type changes the gears based on speed. GPS and fleet management system is going to be incorporated by OEMs in a big way. Because of the increasing rental market in India, the owners are, of late, paying more attention in having the control of the machine running at a distant site. This will help the machine owners to track the exact performance and position of the machine used in a particular project. IoT in Liugong motor graders has automatic leveling technology which helps in grading with ease."

According to Sakthikumar, the upcoming technology trends in motor graders are basically trying to address the productivity, operator comfort, equipment and project management at site. "Engine with electronic control for easy trouble shooting, mold board material with improved wear resistance, automatic blade levelling systems, GPS, fleet management system etc. All mechanical engines which were used once are now being slowly replaced by variable horse power and electronic fuel injections engine for low fuel consumption. This multiple curve engine will deliver power according to the load requirement," he adds.

Product developments
In order to meet the emerging requirements of quality and productivity in project execution, motor grader manufacturers are coming out with feature rich products. Vidyarthi explains, "Our motor grader range is equipped with the best FPT Industrial engine, which helps in saving fuel cost and increasing overall efficiency of the equipment. To handle the shock caused by uneven surface of the sites, CASE India's grader range comes with added accumulators. To handle the tough terrain conditions, CASE India's motor graders are equipped with hydraulic pitch control feature. The equipment is also equipped with ROPs and FOPs for safety of machine as well as operator. Hydraulic pitch control feature helps operator to control moldboard pitch adjustment from cabin itself. CASE India offers a range of graders with CRDI electronic engines for on-board diagnostics, having laptop connectivity. Additionally, our renowned Eagle Eye Telematics solution is also available in our graders, which provides real time alert and geo-fencing features for better usage of the machine." LiuGong has two variants of motor graders viz. CLG 414 and CLG 4180D, a recent launch. The machine is fitted with Cummins QSB 7 engine specially designed for the machine. It has a variable horse power (152-181) and comes with 12 ft moldboard. It has a robust designed air conditioned cabin for better visibility and a rear view camera as a standard fitment, according to Mehrotra.

Sakthikumar elaborates on the XCMG motor graders, "XCMG Motor grader GR1003 is one of the latest products from our company. It is of 7.5T capacity and has a variable horse power 100 hp. The rear axle in GR1003 is of single axle type. This avoids the excessive cantilever action in the rear side. This is a very unique feature compared to competition. Multiple rigid axles have more cantilever action and more reaction force on the rear side of the machine when it operates in irregular surfaces. Hence, the chances of failures and structure damages are more with multiple rigid axles. We have fixed power engine as well as variable power engine."

Rental push
With the growing utilisation of motor graders in projects, rental market has emerged as a major source of availing the graders for applications. Being a high-value equipment, contractors are preferring to rent out these machines for their use. As Vidyarthi says, "The current rental market is said to be around 7-8 per cent and it is growing rapidly. Customers mostly go for rental because it helps them in cutting down on equipment acquisition cost, protection from market fluctuations, eliminating storage and transportation issues."

CASE has a rental platform for their machines. Vidyarthi explains, "To meet the demands of smaller businesses for whom perhaps, buying a machine is not productive, our rental platform can help them in renting a machine from CASE India to finish their work, without incurring a heavy capital investment. This helps us to focus on leaving no customer behind, whether small or large, coupled with our fantastic products with state-of-the-art features and our service network will surely set us apart and propel us ahead in this industry."

According to Mehrotra, the popularity of CE rental business has increased due to various reasons. He adds, "A few key contributors to the growth of CE rentals include the rising cost of purchasing equipment, increasing economic uncertainty, lack of capital, technology upgradation, unpredictable construction and infrastructure growth, depreciation woes, costly breakdowns and limited space availability which has forced construction companies to find ways to save money wherever they can. In many instances, renting has become a viable option for many companies and has provided them the ability to cut costs and run a more financially stable construction business. LiuGong as an OEM is not directly involved in rentals. However, a few of our channel partners are actively involved in rental business too."

Sakthikumar says, "Most of the projects want to be equipment light and therefore they prefer to rent machines like motor graders. The rental segment is growing and the customers expect value product which are high in quality and are affordable. We expect our business to grow in this segment in the coming year."

Challenges
In spite of the growing demand in the market, the motor grader segment confronts various challenges in terms of availability, cost, procedural constrains, etc. For CASE, importing the machine to meet the requirements is a challenge. Vidyarthi explains, "CASE India's motor graders product range is imported from Brazil, which in turn becomes challenging for us as importing increases the price whereas the competition manufactures this machine locally. Hence, there can be seen a huge difference in price range."

According to Mehrotra, some of the major challenges faced in the motor graders and the overall CE sector are procedural clearances, equipment finance, land acquisition, and governance issues.

Vidyarthi also points out some other challenges, "Unavailability of skilled manpower and trained operators is another major challenge faced by CE makers at the job site. To operate the technically advanced and hauled machines like motor graders, there is a requirement of skilled operator and trained manpower to understand the machines. CASE India sees this as a major challenge and addresses it with providing training programs all around the year and make the machine interface in a way that can also be operated by semi-skilled labour. We also have a group of trained operators who are deputed at various sites to train customers, along with a group of skilled service manpower to train onsite service team. Another challenge is the availability of spare parts of the machine to the users. CASE India ensures better and in-time delivery of its spare parts to its dealers and customers. CASE India has its CWH (CASE warehouse) at the centre of the country for better and timely delivery across the country. We also have 74 dealers all over India with sufficient parts stocks to support the machines."

According to Sakthikumar, liquidity, untrained operators, and widespread awareness among contractors to use motor graders with different attachments for varied applications are the common challenges manufacturers face. He adds,"We offer training program to operators, customers and suppliers to overcome these hurdles. Otherwise, we are currently selling the motor grader assembled in the final stages with an Indian engine at our factory in Irungattukottai, Sriperumbudur, Kancheepuram. However, our endeavour is to offer top of the class specification and quality. We will launch a localisation plan to indigenise components in India to meet the customer expectations of high quality products at competitive prices at a later stage."

Market looks promising
The year 2020 started positively with the global industry was slowly coming out of an economic slowdown. In India, the sales of construction equipment saw pick up as the projects started picking up speed. Later, the Budget 2020 provided an impetus on the development of the country's infrastructure through the National Infrastructure Pipeline project. However, the deadly coronavirus attack that gripped the world has pulled back the growth once again.

Vidyarthi says,"The Budget 2020 has outlined a roadmap for the development of infrastructure and construction sector. The keen focus on the highway projects and monetisation of the highway bundles provides a lot of chances to the stakeholders to make the most of this year with the given opportunities. We expect these steps to create better opportunities for the motor grader segment in the coming time." Mehrotra adds, "As per the industry reports, motor grader market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10 per cent during 2019-25."

According to Sakthikumar, the present government has placed major thrust on road building and motor grader is one of the very essential equipment for the same. It is required irrespective of national highways, state highways, rural roads and in city roads. It doesn't look to be ending up better than 2019 for the overall industry. However, we at Schwing Stetter are quite sure of doubling it in 2020. Now we have complete range of graders from 7.5 t to 13.5 t.

According to an Off-Highway Research estimate, the sales of motor graders during 2018-2023 are expected to grow by close to 50 per cent from 1,606 units in 2018 to 2,400 units by 2023. Though the coronavirus attack has impacted the industry severely, the market can bounce back soon as a lot of infrastructure development is left behind. With the Budget 2020-21 focusing on National Infrastructure Pipeline, the demand for motor graders are expected to grow in the near future.

- SUDHEER VATHIYATH

VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India