National Gati Shakti Plan is a welcome move for the sector and is a landmark step towards enabling progressive economic growth in India.
Jaideep Shekhar Managing Director, Terex India As the government aspires to grow Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2025, how do you look at the Union Budget 2022 – 23 unlocking opportunities for
– Jaideep Shekhar
Managing Director, Terex India
As the government aspires to grow Indian economy to $5 trillion by 2025, how do you look at the Union Budget 2022 – 23 unlocking opportunities for India’s CE industry?
The construction equipment industry definitely plays a critical role in propelling India’s GDP and reaching its $5 trillion dream. With the government’s massive push to the Infrastructure sector during the budget of 2022, the Construction Equipment industry in India is going to grow further.
Terex continues to strengthen its foothold in India’s Construction Equipment Market by bringing in new technologies, expanding its product portfolio, and entering new construction territories. With the recent launch of its technologically advanced and internationally proven FRANNA brand of pick-and-carry mobile cranes, Terex is now making its presence in the highly competitive mobile crane segment dominated by well-established local players.
How do you think this budget will help in pushing investments in the infrastructure, construction and mining space especially after a stagnant period of the Covid-19 pandemic?
Despite the backdrop of the huge fiscal deficit of 9.5 % for FY21 and an estimated deficit of 6.8 % in FY22, Budget 2022’s emphasis on the National Gati Shakti Plan are a welcome move for the sector and is a landmark step towards enabling progressive economic growth in India. This will also give much-needed boost to infrastructure development across India while also driving economic growth. The mining space should see a positive impact with the government’s plan to shift to a carbon-neutral economy, push on infrastructure through the PM Gati Shakti scheme and a significant increase on capital spend budget.
We are committed to focusing on sustainable infrastructure development and strive to provide sustainable solutions that aim to reduce our overall carbon footprint and have recently launched machines with fuel-efficient hybrid dual-powered technology. Additionally, we are already using Stage IV emission compliant engines and prepared to take up any upcoming emission compliance requirements. From an environmental perspective, we are excited to work with the Indian Government and various municipal corporations on waste management projects and we strongly believe we can offer our expertise and know-how in recycling processes to make a real and lasting impact. The coal sector is also set to grow rapidly for the next few years, so while we already have a range of equipment which customers are currently using in their coal mines, we are also launching new models in Hybrid and dual powered machines, which will further help in reduction of fuel consumption.
The finance Minister, in her budget speech, has stated that National highways in India will be expanded by 25,000 km during 2022-23. What is the impact of this on the CE sector in terms of skilled employment as well as from business generation?
The Budget proposals to expand the national highway network by 25,000 kilometres in FY2023 will give an immediate boost to infrastructure companies and in turn generate great demand for construction equipment. A total of Rs 20,000 crore has been allocated for this plan which is a great move by the Centre.
The major challenge in this industry is the lack of skilled and trained personnel to operate crushing and screening equipment. Terex India has been working closely with its customers to ensure availability of skilled manpower who are adept at operating more technological, intelligent equipment in a safe and efficient manner. A dedicated training centre at the Terex Hosur facility provides advanced training to crusher operators and plant supervisors. This is accredited as a training partner of the Infrastructure Equipment Skill Council (IESC), under Skill India and NSDC program of Government of India.
What do you think are the present challenges and the road ahead for CE industry?
India has a robust Construction Equipment sector. However, the industry’s growth potential is being limited by some key challenges such as the spiralling steel, alloys and fuel prices. Additionally, supply chain and logistic disruptions experienced during the pandemic are posing a major hurdle.
The dwindling supply of sand as a construction resource has been well documented in the media for many years. As a result, manufactured sand – where the sand is derived from crushed rock fine – is proving to be sustainable and viable alternative for construction needs.
Taking India as an example, historically most sand was dredged from rivers but in recent times, a government crack-down on the practice has led to a boom in manufactured sands. Due to numerous infrastructure projects the demand for superior quality manufactured sand is anticipated to rise exponentially.
We are therefore excited about the opportunity for growth across solutions for sand manufacturing needs.
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