According to the UN's World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2019, India's GDP growth is expected to accelerate to 7.6 per cent in 2019-20 from an estimated 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal ending March 2019. The Interim Budget 2019 presented in the Parliament underlines the country's strong economic growth.

Presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal stated India is the fastest highway developer in the world. While the infrastructure development is on track as per the last year's Budget proposals, the Interim Budget 2019 has provided the much needed boost to the affordable housing, agriculture and tax payers. The growth has to continue.

Skid-steer loaders are considered as the most versatile construction equipment that can perform a host of applications with various attachments. They can perform various functions in agriculture, industry, construction, demolition, material handling and maintenance. Being compact machines, skid-steer loaders are suitable to function in areas of limited space where regular machines cannot enter and perform their job.

Despite being useful in such a wide range of applications, the market for skid-steer loaders in the country is still very small. The industry highlights many reasons such as lack of awareness among the users about the applications, dependent more on imports, and shortage of trained operators. Training and certification of operators by reputed agencies such as the Infrastructure Equipment Skill Council is imperative for enhanced mechanisation. The Cover story explores the market realities of skid-steer loaders and steps needed for the sustainable growth of this segment.

It is important to take adequate safety precautions for working at heights. With projects growing taller, use of conventional means to access heights can be a costly affair, especially for the human life. Use of Aerial Work Platforms (AWPs) in the place of conventional methods for working at heights is gaining traction, but in a limited way only. In the US and other developed countries, it is mandatory to use AWPs to access heights of 3 m and above. However, in India, there is no such specific regulation for working at heights. The AWP market is pressing for such a regulation for the safety of people working at heights, which will also drive the growth of this sector. The Feature elaborates on the importance of AWPs for safe, productive and efficient function of people at heights, the market dynamics and emerging trends in the industry.

Digitalisation is picking up in construction equipment market with leading players adding new digital features to their equipment. OEMs have introduced new products with latest digital features at the recently concluded bauma CONEXPO INDIA exhibition in Delhi. Meanwhile, solutions based on Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Big Data are being offered for the real-time monitoring and control of the equipment fleet and their operation and maintenance, which help in keeping the machine uptime high. The CASH Feature highlights the importance of digital technologies in construction equipment.