India to achieve self-reliance in metals, mining sector

During a virtual address, Pralhad Joshi, the Minister for Coal, Mines, and Parliamentary Affairs, emphasised the importance of minerals in the post-pandemic scenario and ongoing energy transition, stating that there has been a surge in demand for minerals worldwide.

Unleashing Power

From excavators to cranes, hydraulic motors power modern construction equipment, ensuring precise and powerful task execution.

How AI and ML are revolutionising CE in India

AI enables machines to perform tasks requiring human intelligence, such as decision-making and pattern recognition, while ML allows systems to learn from data and make predictions.

Boost on the cards for auto components?

The Indian automotive industry sector has a positive outlook for the upcoming Budget, with expectations for updates on the FAME 3 scheme, PLI sops, and GST revision.

Electric Vehicles: Revving Up Despite Roadblocks

The revision in the FAME II policy during 2023 posed a setback for the growth of 2W and 3W. However, the overall expansion of the EV market remained robust throughout CY2023.

MYCRANE signs MOU with Equip9 at Excon

Equip9 is an AI-enabled start-up that has developed an app for everything related to heavy equipment.

Mycrane and Equip9 Join Forces to Drive Innovation in Crane Rental

Mycrane and Equip9 signed a Memorandum of Understanding at Excon

Mycrane and Equip9 Join Forces to Drive Innovation in Crane Rental

Mycrane and Equip9 signed a Memorandum of Understanding at Excon

Komatsu connects people through technology

The company had participated in an event by Dholakia Foundation.

Bridgestone's Indore plant rolls out 100 millionth tyre

Bridgestone India, part of Bridgestone Corporation, a global leader in tyres and sustainable mobility solutions, today announced a remarkable milestone as their Indore plant reaches the historic production of its 100 millionth tyre

Bridgestone's Indore plant rolls out 100 millionth tyre

Bridgestone India currently operates two state-of-the-art plants in India one at Indore and the other at Pune.

CNH pledges to empower Indian young people

CNH Industrial, a global leader in agricultural and construction equipment, reaffirms its commitment to prioritise skill development and education as key drivers for sustainable growth on Youth Skills Day (July 15th).

CNH pledges to empower Indian young people

The company has introduced comprehensive training programmes

Technology penetration in mine planning is still lower in India

Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc, speaks on the challenges facing in the mining equipment market in India, and the ways to address them.

Komatsu India committed to a future of sustainable growth

The company is targeting to be carbon-neutral by 2050

Komatsu India committed to a future of sustainable growth

Komatsu is targeting to be carbon-neutral by 2050

Budget 2022 and a big infra push

The union budget can be termed as a growth-oriented one, with the government focusing strongly on world-class infrastructure development.

Manish Mathur of ACE: Overall outlook for next two years in positive

Manish Mathur, CEO – Cranes, Action Construction Equipment, speaks on how the market for medium and heavy-duty mobile cranes progressing in India.

LetsTransport to augment fleet with 1,000 electric vehicles

In a bid to drive sustainable growth of intra-city and last mile logistics, LetsTransport, one of India’s fastest growing tech logistics companies, will augment its electric vehicle (EV) fleet on its platform to 1,000 by June 2022.

LetsTransport plans to augment fleet with 1,000 electric vehicles to drive sustainable growth

In a bid to drive sustainable growth of intra-city and last mile logistics, LetsTransport, one of India’s fastest growing tech logistics companies, will augment its electric vehicle (EV) fleet on its platform to 1,000 by June 2022.

Demand for higher tonnage cranes is likely to grow

With the government’s heavy investment on infrastructure development, the mobile crane market in India is showing gradual signs of improvement, which was impacted by the pandemic.

LetsTransport plans to augment fleet with 1,000 electric vehicles to drive sustainable growth

Having already commenced EV-led operations in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai, LetsTransport will introduce EVs to its fleet in Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.

Craning Forward

Despite uncertainty, the overall market for mobile cranes is expected to grow between 10 to 15 per cent for the next two to three years.

Overall outlook for next two years in positive

The overall outlook for next couple of years for pick and carry, and medium and heavy duty mobile cranes is positive. While we expect a sustainable growth on YoY basis, but due to pandemic, we might see some hiccups in between.

Deepak Jain re-appointed as President of ACMA for 2020-21

Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) announced the re-appointment of Deepak Jain, Chairman & Managing Director, Lumax Industries as its President and Sunjay Kapur, Chairman, Sona Comstar as the Vice President for the term 2020-21.

We are a preferred automation partner for market leaders

B&R India has established seven offices in major cities of India and has expanded its Pune office space to match the growth.

Poised to Grow

India's lubricant market is growing up with demand for industrial lubricants on the rise. More infrastructure developments and growth in manufacturing in the coming years will see further demand growth for industrial lubricants.

Thwarting challenges

The construction equipment (CE) market was predicted to be flat this year due to elections and uncertainty in the new political scenario. The industry was cautiously optimistic.

On Sustainable Growth

The portable air compressor market is growing consistently in the past couple of years, which is to continue in the coming years as well with most of the application markets are picking up.

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.

Compact and powerful

With the growth drivers of urban and rural infrastructure markets opening up, mini construction equipment segment is looking for a renewed growth in the coming years.

On Sustainable Growth

Devendra Kumar Vyas, Managing Director, Srei Equipment Finance, elaborates on the key factors that drive the growth and the emerging market trends in equipment finance.

Pushing Growth

Motor grader market has seen growing in the past couple of years with applications spreading into rural road projects as well as in highways.

Premium Transmission opens product development centre in Kolkata

Premium Transmission, one of the leading players in industrial gearboxes, geared motors and fluid coupling market of India, is strengthening its footprint in eastern part of the country by opening new product development centre in Kolkata.

Growth ahead, no skidding!

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.

Krishnapatnam Port commissions 5 new e-RTGCs

Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal (KPCT), a deep drafted container terminal on the east-coast of India, announced the commissioning of five new electrical Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes (e-RTGC), further bolstering its container handling capacity in the backdrop of a strong year-on-year container volume growth of 88 per cent in FY 2017-18.

On Strong Foundation

Foundation equipment segment is back on action with a lot of equipment busy at various project sites across the country. The trend is expected to continue for the next few years.

Budget 2018-19: Infrastructure, Rural Development key

Infrastructure development has been one of the top priorities of the Union Budget 2018-19 presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in Parliament on February 1. Major investments and allocations are in roads, railways and rural development including agriculture and rural economy. Urban infrastructure development has also received a boost with the allocation for Smart Cities mission.

Budget Boost

Budget 2018-19 rang in on 1st February for the second consecutive year in history. The budgetary expenditure on infrastructure for 2018-19 is being enhanced by Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 5.97 lakh crore against an estimated expenditure of Rs 4.94 lakh crore in 2017-18.

Excon is An ideal platform to connect with customers

Roads and Highways sector has been and continues to be one of the major drivers for the ECE industry. Other sectors such as Railways, Airports, Inland Waterways etc are also integral in driving the growth.

Revival on Cards?

India is witnessing an improved growth trend in coal mining, as Coal India Ltd (CIL) is aiming an output of one billion tonne by 2020. CIL has earmarked a capital investment of Rs 57,000 crore, as part of the road map for one billion tonne target, with a planned capex of Rs 8,500 crore in 2017-18.

Konecranes Gottwald Crane at South Korean Terminal

South Korean Terminal Operator Pyeongtaek Dangjin Central Terminal Co Ltd (PDCT) has put a Konecranes Gottwald Model 4 mobile harbour crane into operation.

Warehousing Equipment Aiming New Heights

Driven by the growth of various industry segments such as FMCG, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages and e-tailing, logistics distribution hubs and clusters are mushrooming in all major parts of the country.

Konecranes bags order for lift trucks from Napier Port

In order to further strengthen its important position on New Zealand?s North Island, Napier Port ordered six more cranes from Konecranes. In December 2017 six new lift trucks will be delivered to the terminal, situated in the rapidly growing Hawke?s Bay region.

Volvo Trucks successfully concludes Fuelwatch Challenge India 2017

For the eighth consecutive year, Volvo Trucks conducted the Fuelwatch Challenge India Finals recently. The competition is recognised as an annual mainstay event in the industry and embodies the company?s Fuelwatch mission towards a fuel-efficient industry model. After a series of national competitions across the region, 29 top contenders met for a decisive driving in Singrauli.

Excavators Excel

Driven by the infrastructure development activities in the country, hydraulic excavators recorded a sharp growth in 2016 compared to the previous year. The positive trend is continuing this year also with a 26 per cent growth in the first four months.

Back on Growth Path

Given its versatility and mobility, backhoe loader finds great use at almost every construction site, both urban and rural India. This multi-purpose machine continues to perform a variety of tasks at sites and is used for digging, dosing, levelling and lifting activities.

Equipment India Awards 2017 and CEO Forum

The evening of April 21, 2017, was a proud occasion for Equipment India as the industry stakeholders gathered in large numbers at New Delhi's heritage Claridges Hotel, to celebrate the 4th Annual Equipment India Awards and be part of the high-level discussion at the CEO Forum.

A Constructive Budget

The construction equipment segment in India has something to cheer about from the Budget measures such as more fund allocation to rural roads and highways construction, and announcement of infrastructure status to affordable housing.

Budget Reactions | JCB India

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has presented a well-balanced and constructive combined budget, focusing on the most critical aspects of the economy, such as Infrastructure, Agriculture and Rural India.

Close to 30,000 JCB machines are connected to JCB LiveLink

We have set up a global manufacturing hub in India. JCB machines are not just designed for India?s emerging markets, but are exported to over 65 countries. What also sets us apart is our world class product support network with 63 dealers and 650 outlets.

Indian Mining Poised to Boom

Asia Pacific Fuelwatch Challenge 2016

During the Asia Pacific Fuelwatch Challenge 2016, drivers demonstrated their competency in vehicle handling at optimal fuel efficiency. For the tenth consecutive year, the Asia Pacific Fuelwatch Challenge crowned its winners in the annual finals of the event.

Steering India business

Kazuhiko Mimura is the Managing Director at Bridgestone India Pvt Ltd, and is responsible for Bridgestone?s tyre operations in India. He is focused on efficiently steering Indian business operations, spearheading sales and marketing functions,

TPS delivers 10 Terex TFC 45 H reach stackers to Benin

Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has delivered ten Terex TFC 45 H reach stackers to Benin. The machines were put into operation in March 2016 by Soci?t? B?ninoise des Manutentions Portuaires (SOBEMAP).

Connecting the CE Industry

As a prelude to Excon 2015, a road show was organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Mumbai on October 8, 2015. In essence, this meet was organised by CII to showcase the exhibition and give an overview. The event was attended by all sections of the connected stakeholders.

National Conclave on Smart Technologies

The conclave, held on August 22-23, 2015, in Hyderabad, brought together international experts on technologies and smart cities along with urban development officials from across India.

Mobile Access Platform Systems at Malls

Mobile Access Platform Systems (MAPS) is revolutionising the revenue streams and methodologies used in most brand activation and marketing campaigns in the mall space in India, writes Pradeep Agarwal.

Wheel loaders - Optimising Productivity

Cycle time is a critical success factor in all bulk handling applications. Ramifications of high cycle time even extend to bulk handlers securing business. Wheel loaders are extensively used bulk handling tools wherein high productivity is of essence.

Our efforts are to provide the best product and after-sales support.

In developed countries, there are legislations in place which ensure AWPs are used for working at heights. We strongly believe that such legislations should come in India too, says Souma Ray, Director, Haulotte India. Excerpts from the interview

Eaton releases sustainability report for India

Eaton recently announced the release of its first ?India Sustainability Report? in New Delhi. The report was launched as part of an industry symposium ?Business Leadership for Energy Sustainability in India?

Achieving Cost Efficiency

Cost efficiency is not only achieved through cleaner engines, but also through optimising the man-machine interface with a variety of machine control technologies, 'correcting' the usage patterns, and packaging solutions that take care of clients' business needs around project costs.

Eaton develops solutions that drive sustainable growth around the globe.

At Eaton, our singular focus is on helping customers manage power more efficiently, reliably and safely. We see more electronic controls making their way into hydraulic solutions. The objective here is to make hydraulics smarter than ever through increased automation.

Constant value engineering makes TIL the most competitive in the cost-vs-value equation

Introduction of the TIL-Astec range of equipment in track plants, wheeled plants, stationary plants and the manufactured sand segment in India has set a new benchmark in terms of technology, capacity, performance and total cost of ownership,

Looking Ahead with Optimism

Despite the economic slowdown and contrary to initial apprehensions from the major stakeholders, Excon 2013 turned out to be a success, with OEMs and aggregate and components manufacturers launching a new range of machines and components, and some of them even announcing further investment to augment capacity, in order to meet the expected demand spurt in the coming years.

JCB Excavator provides best-in-class productivity and fuel efficiency.

In the excavator segment, JCB offers an unmatched range starting from 8T operating weight (JS81) to 22T operating weight (JS 220LC), to serve the plant hirers, earthmoving and quarrying customer base. At Excon 2013, JCB introduced the JS30 mini excavator and JS360 LC which like all other JCB excavators, offers excellent fuel efficiency, says Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director & CEO, JCB India. Excerpts from the interview.

Eaton is committed to developing customer solutions that drive sustainable growth.

Eaton is meeting emerging needs through the development of new smart electro-hydraulic technolo?gies that shrink the footprint of hydraulics systems, improve their performance and energy efficiency and reduce emissions.

Eaton honours 2013 Stover Award winners

Eaton announced the winners for its annual Stover Award for 2013. The honour recognises employees who demonstrate Eaton-'s commitment to sustainable growth by improving local communities.

Tough times for C&SE sector

One year ago, to be precise, EQUIPMENT INDIA in its May 2012 issue, came out with a cover story on the growth potential of crushing and screening equipment (C&SE) segment. We interacted with most of the major C&SE manufacturers to get the actual pulse of the industry

Eaton is committed to developing customer solutions that drive.....

Eaton engineers are constantly developing smarter ways to simultaneously deliver both eco?lo?gical and economic benefits through the development of energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies.

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.

We keep our customers at the heart of all our initiatives and endeavour.

JCB has recently announced its plan to set up its fourth world class manufacturing facility on a 70- acre site in Jaipur. The approximate investment of Rs 500 crore has been planned to set up this facility in phases. Our idea is to keep pace with future economic growth and strengthen our position as market leader in the construction equipment industry both in India as well as APAC & MEA, says Vipin Sondhi, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, JCB India. Excerpts from the interview.

We aim to be a significant player, offering single-window crushing and screening solutions

Besides offering cutting-edge technology, our complete solu?tion offers the most competitive total cost of ownership to our customers, says Somnath Bhattacharjee, President, MHS&EPS, TIL.

Liebherr is investing in skilled personnel and adequate warehousing

Our prime focus is on R9100 which is a 100-tonne class excavator which we will launch here in 2012. For large mining excavators from 26-42 cu m, we will be waiting for a perfect opportunity to launch in India, says Koenig Holger, Director, Liebherr India. 1 - - 23450 14 162 2012-01-01 00:00:00.000 Equipment India We see huge potential for tower crane business We are not only improving the productivity efficiency and effectiveness of the tower crane domain, but also improving the safety aspect on a human angle," says Rajesh Sharma, Vice President, Marketing, Escorts, in an exclusive chat with Equipment India. Excerpts from the interview.

How do you look at the performance of the Indian construction equipment market in 2011?
Definitely, 2011 is a growth year if you compare it with the sales in 2010. In 2010, the industry size all put together was about Rs 16,500 crore and in 2011 it is about Rs 18,500 crore. In that way growth has happened. Now the growth will not be seen for all kinds of equipment. Equipment market is a derived market. It depends on the activity. If there is a particular kind of activity which suits particular kind of equipment then that equipment will sell more in that year. So I would say that the growth rate has been in the range of 10-25 per cent across the equipment spectrum.

How did Escorts perform in 2011?
Our fiscal is from October to September, during which, we have grown by 41 per cent. The growth has been across the product spectrum. If look at it all the num?bers have grown and growth has been achieved holistically. If take individually, compactors segment has remained stagnant and very limited growth has happened because road activity was slow. All the rem?aining segments have grown beautifully.

Could you describe the partnership with Linden Comansa?
This partnership is an year old now. Last year, we had signed exclusive distribution agreement with them for Indian market. They are the mentors for tower cranes and our strength of distribution and developing skills in the market matched quite well.

What made you to venture into tower cranes?
In terms of growth opportunity we see a huge potential for tower crane business both in the real estate segment as well as industrial infrastructure. Real estate inve?stment is $16 billion which we think will go up to $24 billion by 2015. And industrial infrastructure is largely on the power side. A lot of activity will happen on nuclear power plant and hydel plant and these kinds of cranes are required. The usual small cranes cannot do the job. So believing this and looking at what happened across the world we thought there was huge potential for this and is why we entered tower crane business.

We are partners with Linden Comansa because they are the most technologically innovative company around. There was a lot of gap between what is available in India and what the world was using. Currently, the use of tower cranes is much lower and much basic in terms of technology. Flat top is what the world is getting towards so this was the right product to get into.

You said this partnership is not just for business sake but for solution providing. Kindly explain.
As a responsible supplier who has been known to be a pioneer in some field or other, it is our responsibility that we always try to push technology datum enveloped in the industry towards upward. This is one step towards that direction. We are not only improving the productivity efficiency and effecti?veness of the tower crane domain, but also improving the safety aspect on a human angle.

What kind of business are you looking at in the coming years?
We have already taken sizeable chunk of high-end market in the very first year. But the numbers have been really low like the size of high end market is small. By 2015 we want to sell about 200 machines. Construction equipment industry in the last ten years has been doubling itself every fourth year. Even if you see 250 numbers doubling to 500-600 numbers and we are aspiring for 200 numbers is not out of sync.

What is the advantage of these cranes as far as investment is concerned?
It is a product which has a very long life of 30-35 years which is exceptional in the construction equipment, so you can amo?rtise your investment over a longer period of years. The kind of rental market for tower cranes hardly exists in the country. But, if other assets get about 4 per cent a month, this will get 6 per cent rental a month in the market. Return on investment for a small hirer who is buying this equip?ment also makes it an economic case.

What are your plans to take this initiative forward in the coming years?
As far as the Escorts-Komansa tie-up is concerned, we need to focus more on communicating the technological adva?ntage and translating the equipment advantage into real perfo?rmance. That will happen by training people. That is why I declared that from December onwards we will be having a new training vertical in our school in Bengaluru which will be focussing only on tower cranes. Other products are happening but the new verticals will be open for tower cranes where we will be training people for operation maintenance and the optimum utilisation of the asset which is very important. We have already sent people for training and they have been trained by them and these are the people who will train them further.

How important is trained manpower?
We have emphasis on training. It is not only done for leveraging the marketing but also helping the industry and the country. Every business runs on what you are doing for the customer. If you are distributing well and you are having trained manpower in the country you have done great service to the customer. Equipment hardware is very easy to make. These two aspects are very important.

How do you see the competition in tower cranes?
There are already 12 players for tower cranes. But most of them are competing for the lower segment of the market. To be a player of a high segment, you need technological depth which they do not have. They have seen a Chinese crane and they made it and are selling in India. That is not going to do much favour in the long term. In the long term you need technological depth and innovativeness in terms of creating a shift from product selling to solution selling. This is entirely about solution selling.

How is the rental market for these cranes?
Hiring segment in the country is very decentralised and fragmented. Only two companies of large size are operating in India but they are not very effective. We have large populous of customers who are buying one or two equipment and are working in the close proximity and locality. They are not pan-India players. So Indian hiring industries are not organised as what we see in Europe and the US. When you have such a scenario people tend to invest in those
assets which are not high in value. Tower crane hiring will take some time to come around.

The high initial cost and then it is giving returns for 30 years and they are not mobile equipment. So these small hiring companies may no tend to get into it immediately. But as the time comes it will increase more and more. They buy assets depending upon what is demanded by the market.

What are your plans for 2012 and beyond?
Last year we achieved about 40 per cent growth and this year we are aiming at bettering that. We are very hopeful that we will be able to do that. We have a lot of new products in our armour both on the manufacturing and training site and I am sure we will be able to do that.

Are you planning to venture into other equipment segments?
We have a lot of opportunity in the verticals what we operate in. In crane side we almost have everything. On road construction side we only have compaction equipment and now we have added motor graders. There are many more we can add in that segment. Similarly moving north side we have backhoe loader. There are many products where we are not there and we can get into that later.

Confidence Quotient

'Vision 2020: Commanding New Heights', a study on the CE industry by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Indian Earthmoving and Construction Industry Association (IECIAL),

Service is the key differentiator; for us, therefore it is a major focus area

It is up to the industry to take up the opportunity of the growth, build capacity across the value chain and then scale up, says Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director & CEO, JCB India, while sharing his views on the construction equipment industry.

Volvo CE doubles capacity at Shanghai

Volvo Construction Equipment's Shanghai plant has doubled the quantity of excavators it produces per day since 2010.

We are expanding network to be closer to our customers

The complete range of jaw, cone, HSI and VSI crushers offered by the ASTEC Group (Telsmith and KPI-JCI) is available to TIL for exploring the markets in India, says R Nandagopal, Vice President - Equipment & Project Solutions, TIL.

Mobile & Moving Up

Out of the total market for the CE industry, the share of crushing and screening equipment (CSE) is pegged at 13 per cent - that is, US $ 30 billion across 2012-17; what's more, the CSE market is projected to grow at the rate of 15-20 per cent YoY for the next five years.

Gamesa strengthens its presence

Gamesa, the Spanish company specialising in sustainable energy technologies, mainly wind power, announced the investment in a new blade unit, and also the launch of its R&D centre at Sholinganallur in Chennai.

CE Boom Heads East

Even as the American and European markets continue to languish after the global economic crisis, the world is looking towards the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) to lead the recovery.

Mobile Cranes: Towards Sustainable Growth

The growth potential for lifting, loading and handling solutions is huge and continuously increasing, as India propels itself for a sustainable nine per cent plus per annum economic growth.