India has a potential to become a global hub for material handling equipment.

Neville Mevawala, Head of Sales & Marketing, Godrej Material Handling, Godrej & Boyce

How do you see the government’s ‘Make in India’ programme and mission motivating industry to participate in it? How is this helping the material handling equipment sector to improve its technological status and competitiveness in the global market?
The Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative, intends to support domestic manufacturing and attract foreign investment to turn India into a powerhouse for global manufacturing.
The increase in manufacturing leads to increase in lifting, shifting and stacking of the goods which in turn increases demand of material handling equipment like These new manufacturing setups look for high productivity, safety and comfort for the operators which demands better technological advancements by offering global technology at local price to be competitive to increasing global competition in the material handling industry.

Foreseeing the government’s strong commitment and stable sentiments in the market, how do you evaluate your company’s growth in the coming years?
As India’s manufacturing industry is continuously transforming, it is witnessing significant industrial development and a conscious adoption of green manufacturing processes by corporate India. By FY24, Godrej Material Handling hopes to hold a 28% market share for electric forklifts in India thanks to a strengthened portfolio of environmentally friendly products.
We intend to substantially increase investment in IoT-based technologies and data in order to improve customer experience, expand globally, and gain market share. We have planned to double our investments in technology at multiple stages of operations including manufacturing, sales, and sustainability across its value chain. Due to technology innovation, Godrej Material Handling has seen a 10% rise in user experience efficiency after the adoption of Salesforce CRM. The business is expanding its capacity by 4x as it believes demand growth from the industry.
What are your views on making India as a global material handling equipment manufacturing hub?
India has a potential to become a global hub for material handling equipment; but it needs an overall ecosystem in terms of technology upgradation, scale, skill, local manufacturing of key aggregates and investments towards scale to compete with China.
The industry would need incentives from the Government like PLIs in other sectors to become cost efficient to facilitate to make India lessens its overall logistics cost which is higher than any developed economies.
India is among top 5 economies of the world but when it comes to usage of material handling equipment (powered lift trucks), we are not even among top 15 countries of the world. There is huge potential for domestic demand which will provide scale to be efficient to go global.

Tell us something on your export market and important initiatives to cater to the requirement of International market?
Our focus in exports is on specific markets of Middle East, Africa and SAARC countries. We witnessed 50% growth due to launch of electric range of lift trucks and we expect to grow aggressively in these markets with objective to become 3x in next 3 years.
Give us an understanding of your company’s performance in the last 3 years?
We have seen a sharp increase in our revenue in last 3 years of which major revenue has come from the newly launched electric forklift trucks and Reach trucks. We are the market leaders in terms of revenue and have significant lead over the second largest player in the industry. We have aggressive plan for next 3 years and are confident to maintaining or exceeding the lead.

What are your future strategies at a time when technological disruptions are rapidly defining businesses in the sector?
We will continue to invest in new technologies and launch new products which are more efficient, productive, and are safe to operate. We don’t see any major disruption in our industry. We will further strengthen our reach through our channel partners and will continue to provide after sale solutions which can be customised to meet customer needs.
How is the scarcity of skilled operators affecting the prospects of the material handling equipment market?
There is a challenge in getting skilled, trained operators for warehouse equipment which includes Articulated forklifts and Reach trucks. The other challenge is to get skilled operators outside city limits as most of the expansions are happening far from city limits.
Having said that there are various training institutes have come up which are providing required skills and safety knowledge to operate equipment safely.
We as business have tied with couple of training institutes where we provide training and employment through our won Rental fleet.
MHE manufacturers are now under pressure to manufacture machines which are not only cost effective, but also comply with the emission norms. What are your views on it?
The emission norms have become stringent and will move to CEV-5 from CEV-3 in less than 5 years. The stringent emission norms have made diesel powered forklifts more expensive. With launch of CEV-5 with effective from 01-April’2024 will further impact the costs adversely.
The increase in fuel costs and maintenance costs is leading to double dight increase in electric forklifts whereas diesel powered engines are on decline. The other factor is that corporate customers due to their pledge towards clean and greener environment are shifting towards electric forklift.

What are the challenges that you face and what are your suggestions to further ease a business-friendly climate?
The biggest challenge in the growth of material handling industry is non-palletisation and the type of lorries being used. It is imperative to use standard size pallet trucks across the supply chain which will not only reduce logistics cost but will also facilitate faster and safe handling. The side open lorries will facilitate growth of MHEs.
The recent suggestions made in the National Logistics policy should be implemented fast which will benefit the material handling industry and the overall economy by reducing overall cost of logistics.

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