Economical, Versatile, Efficient

Lack of awareness on attachments is dragging their growth prospects in India. However, with the growing awareness in the recent past and the need for more mechanisation is expected to drive the demand for attachments in future.

Attachments in construction equipment play a vital role in the productive operations of construction, demolition, mining and material handling activities. There are various types of attachments available in the market to perform the required action using a carrier equipment. These attachments include augers, dozer blades, forklift, rock breaker, coupler, loader bucket, backhoe bucket, crusher bucket, grabber, ripper etc.

Demand drivers

Globally, the CE attachment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 4% during 2020-25. The key demand drivers of CE attachment market are increase in construction projects like malls, multiplexes, hotels and the government spending on projects to enhance the infrastructure in the country like, construction of flyovers, airports, highways and expressways, metro rail projects, high-speed rail corridors and industrial zones for increasing economic activities in the country.

In India, the increase in number of smart city projects is enhancing the demand for the market. During phase one in India 100 cities are included in the project and more cities are expected to go up during the phase 2 of the project.

With the increase in urbanisation rate all around the world, there is expected to be a growth in the utilisation of various attachments in India as well as globally.

Advantage attachments

Using the attachment tools on a carrier machine, whether it is backhoe loader, excavator, skid steer loader or any such equipment, one can do multiple jobs at a project site. This provides greater utilisation of equipment, giving better value for money and higher return on investment. These find applications across the infrastructure segments.

Ideally for every activity at a project site there are dedicated equipment to be used. In the current challenging market conditions where contractors are reeling under pressure from the low execution rate of projects due to Covid, investing in multiple machines for each application at projects will be nearly impossible. In this scenario, using attachments provides the customers perform the jobs economically without much issue on quality.

Demand-supply scenario

According to P. Royston, Business Line Manager- HAT, Tools & Attachment Division, Epiroc India, there are at least 30 to 40 brands/players who are operating in the field of supplying hydraulic attachments in India. Most of them are into hydraulic breakers only and quite a few of them are into other attachments like drum cutters, demolition and recycling attachment as well. He further adds on the market dynamics, “Segment-wise, infrastructure and construction including the blue metal/DSI quarry excavation contributes to the maximum share as high as 70-75 per cent in India. Mining is the next application segment, where the share works out as 15-20 per cent approx. Demolition/de-construction segment is an upcoming field of attachment industry in India, though its present share is less than 5 per cent only. Rest of the minor share is contributed by the miscellaneous segments.”

Sunil Newatia, Chairman, Suretech Infrastructure, is of the view that awareness on attachments is extremely low in India. He continues, “Low awareness means low demand. Manual labour is still being preferred by contractors probably due to low profitability on the project execution. Though awareness is picking up gradually, it is extremely slow. In a country like Italy, on an average, each excavator/backhoe is equipped with a minimum of three 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.”

Current market trends

With respect to the nature of projects that are under execution now, the major type of attachments used are hydraulic breakers. “Apart from the regular buckets which are the standard scope of supply along with the carrier machines, hydraulic breakers are the most popular and widely used attachments in Indian market. The market size was around 5,500-6,000 units in 2018, which is considered as the peak. In 2019, it reduced down to 4,700-4,800 units which further came down to 4,000-4,200 units in 2020, mainly due to the impact of Covid 19 emergency situation which affected the industry in all sense. In 2021, it is again catching up and expected to finish somewhere close to the figures of 2019,” Royston highlights.

Challenges & opportunities

According to Royston, on one side, the contractors have the pressure of cost management and on the other side, they are equally concerned with the efficient performance. “In such a context, the major challenge as an attachment provider is to select the most optimum tools/combination of tools/sizes to satisfy the critical needs of the contractors based upon their case-specific objectives, application parameters, condition of the site etc,” he adds. At the same time, considering the market size and value, there are too many players who are catering the Indian market of hydraulic attachment. Hence, the competition here is really high, if compared with other product lines in the industry.

Newatia is of the view that low awareness on the utility and cost effectivity of the attachments is the main reason for its low acceptability. Educating the contractor fraternity is the major challenge. Looking at the opportunities, he adds, “Time-bound ‘Gati Shakti’ initiative by the government has opened up a huge opportunity. Reduction in labour force post pandemic is forcing the contractors to look for mechanisation. 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.”

On a positive outlook

In spite of the current low level of awareness on the advantage of using attachments, the coming days will see more interest from customers for mechanisation at projects in view of scarcity of manual labour and attachments are the best way to make mechanisation economical and efficient.

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