Attachments make the carrier equipment highly versatile and dramatically improve the payback of the main machine.
Sunil Newatia Chairman, Suretech Infrastructure What is the market dynamics (demand – supply) for attachments used in CE for infra, construction, mining and demolition? Unfortunately, attachment awareness is extremely low in India, currently
– Sunil Newatia
Chairman, Suretech Infrastructure
What is the market dynamics (demand – supply) for attachments used in CE for infra, construction, mining and demolition?
Unfortunately, attachment awareness is extremely low in India, currently the most popular attachment being a ‘Rock Breaker’. Low awareness means low demand. Manual labor is still being preferred by contractors probably due to low profitability on the project execution. Though awareness is picking up gradually, but it is extremely slow. In a country like Italy, on an average, each excavator / backhoe is equipped with a minimum of 3 attachments, while in India this would be less than 0.25! Large companies have become capex averse post-pandemic resulting in further decrease in the demand for attachments.
Can you brief us about trends in the range of attachments?
There are more than 200 different attachments available globally. However, in India, besides breakers some of the other attachments that are getting popular are Augers, Screening Bucket, Crusher Bucket, Trenchers and Rotary Cutter Heads. Still, the volumes are too low to make any significant impact on the construction industry to even warrant their mention.
What is the rental scenario of CE attachments? What are your initiatives towards this segment?
Attachment rentals is a tricky game in India. Trust deficit does not allow the suppliers to provide attachments on rent, besides that mishandling, payment defaults, thefts etc. are the reasons why suppliers are not willing to provide attachment on rentals.
We are currently working on an idea of providing the main carrier equipment along with the attachment which is a much safer option than providing only the attachment on rent.
What are the opportunities and challenges for attachments in the construction equipment space?
Attachments make the carrier equipment highly versatile and dramatically improve the payback of the main machine. However, low awareness on the utility and cost effectivity of the attachments is the main reason for its low acceptability.
Several attachments designed overseas are built with their local conditions in mind which are quite different from those in India. Unskilled operator, mishandling of the attachment and attachment failure in Indian conditions are a risk which need to be mitigated to improve the attachment acceptability.
Time bound ‘GatiShakti’ initiative by the government has opened up a huge opportunity. Reduction in labor force post pandemic is forcing the contractors to look for mechanization. Thus, in the coming future, we can expect the demand for the attachments to pick up multi fold. Entry of several players in not only the marketing, but also manufacturing of attachments is definitely a positive indication and we are quite optimistic about the future of attachments in India.
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