Excon is returning after a gap of more than two years. How is the company looking at leveraging this opportunity for business growth
It is a relief to start working without COVID restrictions. We have been interacting with a lot of customers online and with phones/ social media etc. But meeting customers personally is always a pleasure and gives enhanced connect and bonding. On-ground expo is also an opportunity to understand developments in the market. We will be making our utmost to reach out to our customers and showcase our capabilities.

Any new launches and/or announcements planned for Excon, and why?
We are introducing a Sander cone crusher, which is made in India. Demand for a sand making cone crusher has been rising of late. A reliable sand making cone crusher is a need of market.

How is the government’s focus on NIP and Gati Shakti giving a boost to the equipment industry? Which sectors are driving growth for the company’s offerings?
Government’s focus on infrastructure means demand for quality aggregates and sand is increasing day-by-day. This necessitates installation of new crushing plants or augmentation of earlier facilities with queries. Our company is growing largely due to this demand.

How do you view the impact of Chinese imports and what is it doing to the industry?
Chinese imports are reducing slowly, especially in our business, as people have started understanding issues in expected quality and service/spare back up, which is not easily available for a lot of chinese companies.

Crushers being a capital equipment, backup is required for the complete product lifecycle. An Indian company like us, with family values, is appreciated for such backup

How will the shortage of semiconductors impact the construction equipment industry?
Shortage of semi conductors will mean some increase in prices of electronic control components. But it’s percentage in total cost is not very high. So, our business will not be much affected.

How has the sales been for the company this year, and given the ongoing and upcoming building and infrastructure opportunities, what are your sales projections for FY23 or the quarters to follow?
Last two years have been tough because of COVID and related disturbances in work flow as well as finance flow. However we have reached pre-COVID levels in a short time. With more and more opportunities in infrastructure, we are quite bullish in our sales projections and expect about 25 per cent increase in sales of first quarter.

Tell us about the company’s focus on digitisation.
Most of our working environment is paperless already, with COVID pandemic popularizing Online working and Video conferences. This working mode will be more used due to convinience.

We have been making efforts on automaizing operating data collection and remote controls of our equipment. This will be useful for customer to get timely indication on maintenance requirements, ultimately reducing the downtime.