Daimler India Commercial Vehicle to foray into battery electric market

Forays into battery electric market with the all-electric, Next-Generation eCanter

Revolutionising Construction

Concrete construction has evolved significantly, impacting both equipment choices and operational strategies.

Sustainability and innovation: The key drivers

The construction industry is a major contributor to climate change, so there is a growing demand for eco-friendly construction methods and materials. By combining sustainability and innovation in technology, India can create a world-class infrastructure system that can support its economic growth and social progress, writes VG Sakthikumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India.

Sustainability and innovation: The key drivers

The construction industry is a major contributor to climate change, so there is a growing demand for eco-friendly construction methods and materials. By combining sustainability and innovation in technology, India can create a world-class infrastructure system that can support its economic growth and social progress, writes VG Sakthikumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India.

What Do Concrete Equipment Users Want?

CW explores the must-have features for Concrete Equipment

Key concrete equipment tech that meets user demands

Key concrete equipment tech that meets user demands

Poised to higher grow

The demand for telehandlers has been increasing steadily, especially from the infrastructure construction and mining segments over the coming years.

Demand for reliable material handling products is fast growing

Deepak Shetty of JCB India speaks on the market for telehandlers in India

Key concrete equipment tech that meets user demands

The line-up of key concrete equipment available today spans pumps vibrators batching plants and mixers. Do these machines adequately meet user demands or are some features missing? Should this line-up include other equipment? We provide the answers.

High Productivity, Solid Savings with Tata SIGNA 2825.K REPTO RMC

In many small and compact mobile applications, the requirements for control tasks are increasing.

Leveraging Technology

Through Technovation 2022, Schwing Stetter exhibited the concept of innovation through technology in the concrete and construction industries across the country.

There is no defined market for telehandlers in any industry

In light of the plans of infrastructure creation and reforms in mining, what opportunities do you foresee for construction equipment? Opportunities for construction equipment like telehandlers in the mining industry are from the very first day of the mining – from mine formation/construction/ infrastructure maintenance/operational duties and up to mining machinery maintenance. The different attachments make the difference. One single machine (telehandler with some common mining attachments like fork, basket, tyre handler hook, etc.) can replace and reduce the workshop gathering of different machines for different jobs.

Tata SIGNA 2825.K REPTO RMC: High productivity, solid savings!

The Signa 2825.K REPTO RMC, with its 8-m3 fully built drum configuration, ensures high productivity with lower operating costs.

Godrej Construction leads the way for implementing a circular economy

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced that its business Godrej Construction, a pioneer in adopting sustainable construction practices in India, is committed to minimize the impact of construction on the environment.

Tata PRIMA 2830.K REPTO RMC: High productivity, solid savings!

With the introduction of the new range of Rear Engine Power Take-off (REPTO) vehicles, Tata Motors has further augmented this range to enhance productivity and ensure least operating costs for its customers.

Concrete proof

Growth is round the corner for concrete equipment as market is projected to cross $1,300 million by 2024, exhibiting a CAGR of 13 per cent because of anticipated growth in the construction industry.

Godrej Construction leads the way for implementing a circular economy in construction materials

Becomes one of the first construction brand powered by 100% renewable energy in their Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) plant, Recycled Concrete Materials (RCM) plant and common areas of Godrej IT Park building in Mumbai

AJAX Engineering plays an important role in building modern India by truly being an Atmanirbhar Bharat company.

“With our indigenously manufactured product portfolio and engineering expertise, we are playing an important role in building modern India by catering to the Indian as well as the global market requirements. We are positive that this investment will further strengthen the “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative and create employment opportunities in the country.” Mr. Jagadish Bhat, MD & CEO, AJAX Engineering.

Sakthi Kumar of Schwing Stetter: I expect this to be our best year

Schwing Stetter is the name synonymous in the concrete equipment segment. Over the years, the company has introduced several path-breaking products in the Indian concrete pumping industry such as SP8800 concrete pumps, CP 30 batching plants and the 10 cu m truck mixers, which became synonymous within the RMC industry.

AJAX plays an important role in building modern India

With our indigenously manufactured product portfolio and engineering expertise, we are playing an important role in building modern India by catering to the Indian as well as the global market requirements.

Sakthi Kumar of Schwing Stetter: I expect this to be our best year

VG Sakthi Kumar, MD of Schwing Stetter, on new manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, and role of automation in construction equipment.

Sakthi Kumar of Schwing Stetter: Market for excavators should grow by 10%

VG Sakthi Kumar, MD, Schwing Stetter (India), speaks on the present size and growth rate of the hydraulic excavators market in India.

Deepak Shetty of JCB: We have pioneered integration of digital tech in our machines

In an exclusive interaction with Equipment India, Deepak Shetty, CEO and MD, JCB India, speaks on the current market for telehandlers, and major changes taking place in terms of technology.

We have pioneered integration of digital tech in our machines

As the Indian market matures, global best practices are making their way into the Indian material handling industry. There is an increased focus on safety and productivity on work sites which presents us with the opportunity of introducing products with the latest and state-of-the-art technology in India.

YoY demand for concrete equipment will be at 20-25% in today’s scenario

Incorporated in June 1998, and commencing its manufacturing operations in 1999, Schwing Stetter India is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Schwing GmbH, a $1.30 billion German concreting machinery manufacturer and a part of XCMG group.

India continues to be an important market for us

Since 1958, Putzmeister has been global leaders in the world of construction and mining. The company develops, produces, sells and serves its customers with high quality and high reliability machines for pumping, distributing and placing concrete, mortar and high-density solids, and for preparing, temporarily storing, processing and transporting these materials.

AJAX: Revolutionising current construction processes through boom pumps

Strengthening its foothold in the concreting equipment market, AJAX would be introducing new products in the forthcoming customer interface platforms to help customers to steer their business with increased speed, greater flexibility and enhanced quality.

Tata Motors Construck Transit Mixer and Boom Pump Series

The construction and infrastructure sectors are the cornerstone of the country’s growing economy. With enhanced government focus, these sectors are growing at a fast pace.

AJAX: Revolutionising the current construction processes through boom pumps

AJAX offers concrete batching plants in CRB, IRB and IBP series ranging between 20- 30-45-60-75-90-120 that goes up to 240 cum/hr.

New Concrete Pumping Solutions

Over the last three decades, the need for energy efficiency, higher productivity, easy mobility and flexibility has been the focus to meet the growing customer needs.

Concrete-Mate for perfect Mix-Design control

Carmix brings out continuous technical innovation and the development of digital technologies that simplify on-site operations

Hyundai CE Europe launches HX300AL crawler excavator

Hyundai Construction Equipment Europe (HCEE) continues the roll-out of the A-series with the HX300AL, a 30-tonne Stage V-compliant crawler excavator. This new machine is the ideal workmate for infrastructure works and general construction.

Medium to long term outlook positive: Wilfried Theissen

The Putzmeister India Managing Director Wilfried Theissen termed the Union Budget 2020 positive on medium to long term outlook, but said challenges remain in the immediate to short term

We have focused on introducing new models towards customer centricity

Sunbeam Infra Equipments, a division of Sunbeam Generators, is among the prominent players in the concrete equipment industry with its concrete mixers (purchased from Greaves Cotton) and now with additions of batching plants, concrete pumps and mixer pumps

We expect to see a positive turn in volumes

Tata Motors has been at the forefront of constantly innovating and defining the market with new technologies and categories.

Gaining Momentum

Tipper market is expected to bounce back in the coming years with the demand picking up steadily in road construction and mining.

Austrian RMC firm opts Liebherr mixing tower

Fr?schl Beton, Austria?s leading ready-mix concrete (RMC) firm has added the Liebherr Betomat-type mixing tower to fulfill customer requirements.

Loads of Opportunities

With the construction activity picking up and mining operations reviving in India, new opportunities are knocking at the doors of the wheel loader market.

CRUSHING BARRIERS

Fragmented aggregate mining, as well as issues related to regulations and liquidity, are threatening the growth of the crushing and screening equipment segment in India.

Time-bound projects demand highly efficient equipment

In the current scenario, most of the projects have become time-bound and have to be completed within the stipulated period. Due to this, expectation of the market has also changed especially in road segment.

Concrete Future

Requirement of concrete in construction is expected to increase in the future with a slew of projects in the pipeline in real estate and infrastructure projects.

Total Concreting Solution

As a major concrete equipment manufacturer, Ajax Fiori offers wide range of concreting solutions for various infrastructure projects. Debasis Bhattacharya elaborates more on the products and technologies.

Batching plants for precast industry

Precast concrete is getting more traction in the current construction space. Ajax Fiori has introduced a range of batching plants that feed the requirements of precast industry. Debasis Bhattacharya elaborates.

CONCRETE BATCHING PLANTS

Concrete is a major constituent of infrastructure projects: mainly in real estate, roads and highways, railways, sea ports, airports, power plants, irrigation and urban modernisation sectors.

Technology to drive INFRA growth

Infrastructure 2.0 is a movement to address issues with today's core network infrastructure in a customer's construction site to address the dynamic, automated nature of operation models like cloud computing, data center visualisation, IoT and usage of drones to keep site operations safe, secure, highly productive and efficiently managed.

We will be launching 17 new products this year

The current construction equipment market in India is to grow at a rate of 25 per cent. Road, irrigation, ports, RMC, railways, metro rail, power (nuclear, thermal, solar, wind, hydro, gas based), real estate and other community buildings are the major demand drivers for our product line.

On A High!

High-rise construction is catching up momentum with more and more sky scrapers of 300 m and above are coming up in India. With these high-rise constructions, Indian construction industry is gradually moving towards the next level of technology which has necessitated the use of new and improved construction equipment to meet the demand of safe and quality construction.

Disruptive Concrete Equipment Technologies Emerging

Off late, there have been numerous disruptive technologies and equipment concepts introduced to Indian markets. Earlier most of these were only available to highly developed countries like USA or European Union where mechanisation and process integration has been of essence, to counter act lack of adequate manpower.

Back on Track!

The Indian mining and material processing industry, along with other bulk material handling operations like coal loading or bulk handling at ports, and aggregate processing in roads, is already on a fast track growth trajectory in India, thereby driving the demand.

Concrete Show India 2016

UBM India successfully concluded the forth edition of Concrete Show India with over 150 Indian and global suppliers and manufacturers from across 10 countries and over 5,500 trade visitors, amidst an industry showcase of products, solutions and services at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, Mumbai during May 19-21, 2016.

Touching The Next Level

The demand for concrete equipment and ready mix concrete (RMC) is charting an upward trend on the back of momentum in infrastructure development and to a lesser extent, real estate.

Putzmeister launches new batching plant

Putzmeister has launched its batching plant, the MT-1.0 for Indian market. As an in-house development the team has made sure that it stands apart with respect to design and in-built features.

VECV Launches Pro 8031XM at Excon 2015

Eicher Trucks and Buses, the leading brand from VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) strengthened its presence in the mining and construction sector through an expansion of its product portfolio and showcasing a series of tippers in the Pro 6000 and 8000 category.

Batching Solutions

With the influx of fresh initiatives by the government there is a renewed focus on infrastructure development which offers big opportunities of growth for the concrete equipment industry. EQUIPMENT INDIA tracks the development in batching plants.

Looking at a Big Boom

Only about ten per cent of concrete produced is currently pumped, which tells about the huge scope for concrete pumps for the infrastructure and realty sectors. Agith G Antony trains his spotlight on the latest trends in product/technology, the growth potential for boom pumps, innovative service packages and the value additions offered by OEMs.

The newly launched boom pump will be a game-changer

We have a roadmap which is spread out for almost two years in terms of new product introduction. We have been following that roadmap and you will see launches with more variants of the boom pump and various specifications,

Our marketshare has improved substantially in the last six months

When it comes to capacity, product range, manpower and servicing, we are quite comfortable and all geared for the upturn. For the past two years, the situation was really bad but we suddenly witnessed a spurt in demand; orders which used to take months and months for closure were getting finalised faster.

Schwing Stetter Unveils Five New Products

The new product launches strengthen Schwing Stetter?s expertise in concrete technology.Schwing Stetter India, a leading concrete construction equipment manufacturer in India, has unveiled five new products along with five new variants at Excon 2013, the seventh edition of South Asia?s biggest construction equipment event.

Vertical Shaft Impactors

VSI is the latest, more economical technology in use for the production of manufactured sand. As the country grows, the consumption of concrete is also expected to grow. Cement concrete plays an important role for the construction of roads, buildings

Complete Batching Solutions

With four manufacturing facilities in Chennai, the company has the biggest manufacturing facility for batching plants in South Asia. The increased demand for ready mix concrete and the growing need for a range of batching plants to choose from, can both be met by Schwing Stetter India

We offer batching plants with advanced computer controls

We offer a wide range of services like mapping of mechanisation needs, advice on equipment selection, financial assistance jointly with financial institutions, training to technicians and operators, annual maintenance contracts, buy back arrangement to replace with latest technology.

Our machine control technology is most user-friendly, with proven software

Aquarius has earned the reputation of being a leader in batching plant technology. The compact plants, folding plants, highly mobile plants, plants with better mixing efficiency and automation, enhanced software control systems, special customised plants, etc, all bear a testimony to the new concepts launched by Aquarius

We anticipate ending this fiscal with 40 per cent overall growth over last year

We shall be manufacturing the entire range of batching plants in this facility viz, the self-loading type RLA series of batching plants, Star batcher type Dragline batching plants, Compartment batcher type Compact batching plants and the Inline batching plants, with options of planetary mixers and twin shaft mixers

Concrete pumps

Putzmeister offers a range of concrete pumps to suite the various customer segments based on application requirements. BSA 1404HD: This is an upgraded version of Putzmeister's most popular stationary concrete pump model BSA1404D.

Pumping solutions

Back in the day, concrete pumps were used mainly in metros and major cities; in recent years, however, the industry has witnessed increased demand for concrete pumps in the Tier II and Tier III cities;

RMC segment is a very important vertical for our business

We at Putzmeister spend a lot of resources on educating customers about the importance of pumpable concrete. We regularly organise customer awareness programmes, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities to educate customers,

We are very focused on fuel-efficient concrete pumps

We are offering boom pumps starting from 20 m class up to 43 m class. In future, based on the customer need and availability of suitable truck chassis, we will offer boom pumps with a reach of more than 43 m,

Ours is the most modern pump in the world with advanced features and technology

All our equipment are highly fuel-efficient and the spare parts consumption for our machines is low, thereby keeping our operating costs lower.

We are opening up a new greenfield facility only for batching plants

We want to be known as a complete concrete equipment solution provider; our target is to be among the top three players in India. We've quite a long way to go, and we need to widen our product range. Everything we do is pointed in that direction. Over the next years

Universal has been successful because of strong R&D.

A widespread network, customer satisfaction, innovative solutions, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and str?ong R&D; these five elements defining excellence epitomises Universal, says Ranjit More, Executive Vice Chairman, Universal Construction Machinery and Equipment.Excerpts from the interview.

New Products from Tata Motors

Tata Motors further consolidates its leadership in the Indian heavy commercial vehicle space as it launches six first-of-its-kind heavy trucks and Tata FleetMan fleet telematics services.

Batching Plants & Transit Mixers

With three manufacturing facilities in Chennai, Schwing Stetter India has the biggest manufacturing facility for batching plants in South Asia.

We should have a policy to encourage investment in this industry segment

There is a lot of focus and investment by the equipment manufacturers to build energy -efficient crushing units as the fuel cost and power consumption is a significant portion of the overall material cost in our industry

Mechanisation in rural areas leads CE demand

It is quite surprising that on one side, the infra sector has slowed down and on the other, equipment sale is going up. As per the leading manufacturers of construction equipment, excavator sales have increased by approximately 10 per cent during FY 2011-12 compared to FY 2010-11.

At Sany, our service commitment is to exceed customer expectations

We have adopted the most advanced patented systems in our equipment which greatly contributes to savings in energy and fuel consumption. In fact, the patented systems in our concrete pumps contribute to approximately 20 per cent saving on

Knowledge transfer is the focus area at Aquarius

We provide concrete pumps with a completely isolated hydraulic and concrete sys?tem design. It has a leak-proof system with effective reverse pumping of concrete.

Pumped Up

The market for concrete equipment is on the rise due to the fact that the end-users understand the advantages of mechanisation as well as the usage of quality concrete.

We expect to register over 50 per cent growth this fiscal

?We are fully prepared to meet the requirements of our customers not only in the concreting sector with our batching plants, truck mixers and concrete pumps but also in our new venture of piling rigs and vibro hammers as well.

We provide skilled operators for site operations

We have incorporated many USPs in our plants to make it safer, energy-saving and eco-friendly, says Sunny Singh, Director, Singh Cons?tru?ction. Excerpts from the interview with Equipment India.

Comprehensive Range of Batching Plants

With an extensive range of batching plants, Ajax Fiori is well-geared to address the specific requirements of infrastructure, RMC and precast industries.

Leading the Pack

With three manufacturing facilities in Chennai, Schwing Stetter India has the biggest manu?facturing set-up for batching plants in South Asia. Schwing Stetter India has proved its mettle amongst all odds, setting records in the industry.

The REL-Wiggert design is an operator-friendly batching system

The REL batching plants, manufactured in technical collaboration with Wiggert Gmbh, Germany, have safety features superior to any other manufacturer in the country, which includes safety fencing, mechanical interlocking systems,

We have doubled our capacity for batching plants and concrete pumps

Knowledge transfer is the focus area in Aquarius. The training courses con?ducted by Aquarius provide all the basic skills required for operation and main?tenance of various equipment dealt by the company, says AV Dikshit, Technical Director, Aquarius Engineers

The logistics for batching plants is really a critical issue

Our entire range of products is engineered to be environ?mental-friendly; they are desig?ned in a way that they consume less energy and so, are more economical; moreover, they have a safety certificate under CE marking, says KK Taparia, Deputy Managing Director, Universal Const?ruc?tion Machinery & Equipment.

Batching Solutions

Here go the predictions. The potential demand for concrete equipment in India over the next few years will be quite substantial and the RMC industry will witness a steady growth; the conversion factor for cement to RMC will soon exceed ten per cent.

A Better Batching System

Choosing the right concrete batching system is essential for managing your business in a better way. Your RMC business is inherently dynamic and demands high level of efficiency as concrete has to reach the site on scheduled time.

Nawa will be venturing into track- mounted plants

Our strong base is product know-how, proven technology and engineering skills supported by latest CADD capabilities. These, coupled with well-equipped heavy fabrication and manufacturing facilities and project management skills, 0 - - 22730 14 162 2011-12-01 00:00:00.000 Equipment India We will showcase our new range of products at Excon 2011 Doosan will showcase new range of light sources, large compressors, mini excavators at Excon," says HS Mohan, COO, Doosan Infracore India, in a friendly chat with Equipment India. Excerpts from the interview.

What is the preset status of the construction equipment industry, its size and growth potential?
The construction equipment industry has shown cautious growth for the current year. Industry leaders have done well. However, rupee depreciation, coupled with frequent interest rate hikes and fuel price increases, have badly affected the industry. The majority of the announced projects both in mining and road sector are getting delayed due to many cons?traints and policies. The industry is bullish on the growth during the coming months, though.
What was the performance of Doosan in the last two quarters and how do you expect to end this fiscal? Doosan, with many product lines for the construction industry, has done well this year, compared to last year. While the opportunities are big, the rupee depreciation coupled with high cost of sales is not favourable for a decent performance for the fiscal.

What is the investment made by Doosan?
Doosan is keen to be a part of the growing earthmoving and material handling industry, and so, is weighing all possible ways to increase its manufacturing presence in India for heavy line equipments, portable power and skid steers.

What are the new products that have been launched during 2010 - 2011 by Doosan?
Doosan has launched large water well compressors, which are high in productivity and are very fuel- efficient. We have also introduced the latest models of Bobcat skid steer loaders with increased operator comfort resulting in higher productivity and safety.

Doosan range excavators are fitted with our own fuel-efficient engines suiting Indian conditions and hydraulic components, which benefits the customers for a single-window after-sales support.

Doosan has also launched hydraulic and other oils which increases the life of the components and the efficiency of the equipment. Doosan oils are now available with dealers.
 
Tell us about the initiatives taken to widen the sales and service network, and training for operators.
Over the last two years, Doosan has focused on upgrading the channel partners with a high degree of hand-holding, product and service and parts training. Doosan has put 25 dealers in place, with seven regional offices spread over length and breadth of the country. h We have encouraged training of customer operators at their facilities in Bangalore. Sensing the needs, Doosan has also conducted operator trainings are the customer sites, educating the maintenance staff not only on operation but also on efficient maintenance of the machine resulting in high uptime of the equipment.

What is the potential for smaller excavators in India? How strong is Doosan in the excavator segment?
Though there is a market for smaller excavators in India, backhoe loaders are very popular in this segment. Doosan will be showcasing the small Bobcat excavator during Excon to understand the segment and the market. Doosan has promoted fully imported higher capacity excavators and loaders for the mining segment. Doosan produces excavators up to 75T capacity, this will be introduced in India over a period of time.

And how strong is Doosan in the material handling segment?
World leader Bobcat has a niche role in the material handling equipment industry. With over a hundred attachments, the Bobcat skid steer loader can meet all applications and job handling requirements. Doosan will be showcasing and demonstrating Bobcat SS loaders with its many attachments during Excon.

What kind of services does Doosan render in the rentals scenario?
Currently Doosan is not looking at these services. h We have taken up some challenging services of MARC (Maintenance & Repair Contract) for some of the higher capacity machines.

Brief us on the various attachments on offer.
Apart from the Bobcat attachments, Doosan is promoting their own rock breakers covering all range of excavators. Doosan also promotes the Doosan-owned Montabert rock breakers suiting the customer's needs and choice.

How do you view the business opportunities from Excon?
Doosan will be showcasing new range of light sources, large compressors, mini excavators during Excon. We will also be officially launching the Doosan brand of oils and skid steer tyres in the replacement market , with competitive pricing.

What differentiates Doosan from the competition?
Doosan is a world leader in the construction and material handling industry. Currently, Doosan has over 5,000 machines in the Indian market which are serviced by our factory trained engineers. With Doosan components fitted on excavators (engine and hydraulic compo?nents) the customers are assured of best service at all given times. Doosan machines have done very well under all arduous applications and are gaining in popularity for its reliability and productivity.

We will be launching the DX 25 SL dumper at Excon

We commissioned our new plant which has tripled the installed capacity of our Argo series of self-loading machines, and we are also investing on the latest ERP systems to take us along our ambitious growth plans, says Debasis Bhattacharya, Head - Sales & Marketing, Ajax Fiori,

We have invested 4 mn Euro for our Goa facility expansion

We will showcase at Excon, the Telebelt TBS130 used for big infrastructure projects like power dams to convey concrete which is too rough to be pumped, says Michael Schmid-Lindenmayer, Managing Director, Putzmeister Concrete Machines in an interview to Equipment India.

TELCON Forays into Concrete Equipment

The transit mixer product line is the firm foundation in Telcon's quest to be a preferred concrete equipment supplier for project construction and RMC.

Concrete Equipment: Macons have almost 2,500 installations in the country

The special product segment is a fast emerging market. Macons has considerable expertise in this area and have already acquired a 40 per cent of the market, says BR Gururaj, Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Macons Equipments, in an exclusive chat with Equipment India.

Concrete Equipment: Tapping a Bullish Market

Infrastructure projects have given a boost to off-take concrete equipment like batching plants, truck mixers and concrete pumps. Equipment India takes a look at the market trends in the concrete equipment industry.

Set in Concrete

The market for concrete equipment seems to be very bullish. The real estate sector, which was lagging earlier, is now actually pushing up the demand of concrete product.

We will be launching new concrete reclaimers in 2011

The configuration and the capacities of RMC plants are expected to change and we expect higher capacity plants to increase its demand phenomenally, by at least 50 per cent over the next couple of years,? says Amit Popatwala, Director?Sales and Marketing, WAM India. 0 - - 13798 14 162 2011-02-01 00:00:00.000 Equipment India Innovative approach to product design is the key to success

?Energy-efficient systems will be in great demand and hence, LED lights and other efficient power systems will dominate the market,? says Ashish Garg, Director, Aska Equipments. Speaking to Equipment India, Navdeep throws light on the emerging trends in the lighting industry. Excerpts from the interview.

From manufacturing worship lamps, Aska has come a long way by creating a niche that provides lighting solutions to different verticals. To what would you attribute the success?
Innovative approach to product design, manufacturing and marketing are some key success factors for us.

How do you look at the evolution of the lighting industry in India?
Power is becoming expensive and unavailable in our country. It is the energy efficiency of lighting systems which can deliver better luminous characteristics, and that is likely to dominate the market in the future.

What is the potential for lighting products in verticals like mining, construction and disaster or rescue operations?
Endurable and energy-efficient lighting systems which are light and easily transportable will have good potential. It is, however, difficult to boil it down to a specific figure as there are vast applications in mining as well as disaster and rescue operations.

What will be the market for mobile lighting towers, and also tell us about the range offered by Aska?
The Indian mobile light tower industry is highly fragmented and so are the product variations. Attempts to quantify the market size have not yielded any conclusive results. Estimates put up by some of the industry players have mentioned that the mobile light tower market may range from 1,000-2,000 units per annum (pa). Aska manufactures complete and integrated mobile light towers with tower heights of nine and 18 m. We have also introduced solar-powered mobile light towers which offer the unique benefits of harnessed energy.

How strong is Aska is in the remote lighting systems solutions?
We are the market leaders and are continuously working on product improvements and further developments to light up areas which need urgent attention and where no other system can be successful.

What are latest trends in lighting solutions in India? What is the scope for solar lighting in different verticals?
As mentioned earlier, energy-efficient systems will be in good demand and hence, LED lights and other efficient power systems will dominate the market. Solar lighting systems have already attracted the attention of many and are becoming hugely popular; although initial investment is high, there are virtually no maintenance costs.

What is the scenario in LEDs in this segment?
LED lighting solutions, being energy-efficient and durable are the latest developments in this industry. Escalating energy costs and unpredictable power availability has necessitated alternative developments and LED is among the prominent ones. LED is going to be in the vanguard of lighting systems in the years to come despite being more expensive.

Could you brief us about the portable inflatable emergency lighting system, its reach and advantages?
It is a lighting system which can be carried to a site where no other power source can reach. It is a compact, light (45 kg) and portable lighting system which is capable of illuminating an area of 10,000 sq m for eight hours without refueling. This system is quick and can illuminate in just three minutes while using the most energy-efficient lighting system.

What are the products and services offered by your company, in the rescue equipment range?
Inflatable lighting towers, water mist fire fighting systems, LED lighting systems and emergency cutters are some of the products that Aska offers.

How do you look at the threat of imports from LCC?
We do not see any noteworthy or significant threats, as the cost of manufacturing in India will still be advantageous.

What are your capex plans for the next fiscal?
We are currently consolidating our future plans and will take a final decision as soon as possible.

How are exports doing for Aska now?
We are not making any extra effort to export as of now, due to our commitments in the domestic market.

How is Aska placed to meet the surging demands for advanced products and services in this evolving scenario?
The infrastructure sector has been in the limelight for a few years now. Although the global slowdown did make some impact on Indian infrastructure as well, it cannot be termed a tough situation; I would rather call it as a minor hiccup which passed fast. Aska has its plans in place, to meet any sudden upsurge in demand and has already geared up its production capacities to supply at the shortest notice.

How has the company fared in the last two quarters and how does Aska look at ending this fiscal?
Aska has performed consistently well in the market, thanks to the progressive design and quality manufacturing policies that have been laid out by the management. We hope to achieve a growth of over 30 per cent this fiscal.

What sort of topline growth are you looking at in the next five years and which sector do you see the growth coming from?
The construction sector has moved from traditionalism to modernism in the recent past owing to market requirements of efficient and quality delivery systems. Our company fits this bill from the very beginning and has been a pioneer in its field. We plan to continue the current rate of growth in our business in the coming years and hope that besides the infrastructure sector, construction, power and industrial applications will also facilitate growth.