We expect fuel efficiency will be the prime driving force behind the demand for BHL in the near future, says Sunil Tiku, Senior Director - Sales & Marketing, Terex India. Excerpts from the interview.

Terex Equipment entered the BHL market quite recently. How do you rate your success so far?
In spite of multiple players and new entrants entering the BHL market, we are retaining our market share of around 4.5-5 per cent. With our high repeat sales, our customers are very happy with our product and back-up support. We have a strong distribution network of 150 dealer outlets spread all over the country, besides our seven regional offices, area offices and depots.

How does Terex address the issues of adequate visibility and easy availability of spares?
We have BHL population of over 8,500 across India. All our outlets are equipped with a service and adequate parts inventory to cater customer requirements.

Has the demand from the rural segment brought a sort of balance to the overall demand for BHL?
With positive growth in the agri segment, we expect an increase in demand from the rural market.

What is the impact of the continuing slowdown, especially on Terex's sales performance for BHL?
In spite of the downturn and many new entrants increasing their presence in the BHL industry, Terex have been able to retain its market share. However, we expect a ten per cent drop in our sales YOY by year-end.

What is the impact of the plummeting value of the rupee and the high cost of financing, especially on FTBs?
Our import content is marginal and has little impact on our costs. However, the high cost of funding and a cautious approach by funders to fund FTB and FTU has impacted the business.

What is your take on intense competition?
In spite of multiple players entering the BHL industry, we have been continuously upgrading the technology of our BHL, as per the requirement of our valued Indian customers. We are shortly expanding our product range as well for higher- end customers.

Does the shift towards special equipment and attachment for specific applications have any bearing on the BHL market?
We do expect the demand for specialised equipment/attachments will increase in the coming years. However, BHL will continue to be the largest selling equipment in construction industry due to its multipurpose utility and ease of transportation.

Tell us about the range offered by Terex.
We offer three models - TLB-740 (76 HP), TLB-844 (90 HP) and TLB-818 (92 HP) and a number of other variants/attachments. The demand for attachments is increasing. Currently we are offering four-wheel drive, 7-in-1 rock breakers, ditch cleaning buckets, extended dippers, trenching buckets, high dump buckets, etc. We expect fuel efficiency will be the prime driving force behind the demand for BHL in the near future.