CE industry remains bullish on long-term prospects
With large size construction projects underway, India's construction equipment industry has the biggest opportunity for expansion. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ajay Tripathi, Technical Director, Nilang Asphalt Equipments Pvt Ltd,</span> elaborates more on the trend.<p></p><p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you look at the current equipment industry scenario?</span><br />In today's scenario of globalisation, it is important that the buyers put weightage on value for their money and hence prefer quality equipment with advanced technology and customisation. Here, I would like to share my experience about why customers prefer the manufacturer who is ready to accept challenges about customisation. One of our customers named L G Chaudhary &amp; Sons in Ahmedabad came to us after discussions with some plant manufacturers as they wanted to buy batch mix plant with modifications due to space limitation. We took that challenge and supplied the plant with necessary modifications and installed in the available space. The customer is quite happy now.</p><p>The steadily growing road repair and construction business across the globe will be accelerating product demand over the forecast time span. Asphalt mixing plants are widely used in bridges, tunnels and road construction projects. Furthermore, booming automobile industry in Asia-Pacific is placing greater demand on country's roads, which will surely increase road construction and repair projects.</p><p>The raw materials in asphalt mixing plants such as volatile organic compounds, aromatic hydrocarbons and particulate emission from asphalt mixing process pose substantial environmental threats, which is likely to hamper the product market growth in the coming years. The environmental pollution caused depends on the type of process (batch and continuous) in asphalt mixing plants. Major companies are adopting environment-friendly and sustainable green technology to tackle the issues related to pollution.</p><p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">What are the key challenges faced by the industry?</span><br />The Indian construction equipment industry faces multiple challenges. The emergence of foreign construction equipment manufacturers, including Chinese companies, has forced domestic players to embrace advanced technology that meet global standards. While this ensures better efficiency, it is also reducing the need for skilled labour. Competition among key domestic and foreign players is set to intensify in the coming years.</p><p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you look at the future of construction equipment market in India?</span><br />Despite the challenges, there is bright light at the end of the tunnel. Foreseeing large construction projects underway, the construction equipment industry will see boom in the coming days. The increased size of projects and steadily declining availability of manual labour also favour the demand for the mechanisation of work at construction sites. More construction activities in highways, railway, bridges and ports are on the cards and hence, the construction equipment industry remains bullish about the long-term prospects.</p>