The ‘Digging’ Force…

The market for excavators in India is expected to grow in the coming years due to rising urbanization, population, industrialization and construction sector across the country. Investment of foreign direct investment in the country, rising government spending in smart cities, infrastructure and construction projects are some of the growth drivers for this equipment.

The growing development of commercial construction, residential construction, mining, as well as sewage disposal is demanding the growth of excavator market. These excavators offer assistance for performing picking and placing, excavating, landscaping, demolishing, materials handling, and constructing activities. Furthermore, the rising advancements in technology have resulted in superior excavator’s equipment with high performance and power output capabilities, for providing effective alternative solutions for heavy construction equipment. Thus, impacting positively on the growth of the excavators market on a global scenario.

The boosting construction industry across the globe and growing requirement of robust, effective, as well as mobile construction equipment over heavy construction equipment, are the major drivers for the growth of excavators market. The increasing construction of infrastructure and roads is anticipated to upsurge rapidly in developing countries creating opportunities for the excavators market in the coming years.

According to 6W research, Indian Excavators Market size is expected to grow due to rising urbanization, population, industrialization, and construction sector across India. Investment of foreign direct investment in the country, rising government spending in infrastructure and construction projects are some of the key growth drivers of the India Excavator market. However, the lack of product differentiation and the threat of low-cost Chinese products are the major restraint factors behind the slow growth of excavators in India. The incursion of novel coronavirus would impact the growth of the construction and transportation sector in India which may act as a hurdle in the growth of the India Excavator market over the coming years.

Speaking about the extent to which BEML has been able to leverage the advantages of disruptive technologies in the range of excavators, Pawan Kumar, Chief General Manager & Head of Marketing at BEML, said, “BEML is dominant in the excavator business in the mining sector, where the variants in attachments are very few and mainly concentrated on the enhancing life of the attachment like bucket which are called ‘Ground Engagement Tools’. BEML is adopting the latest technological advancements in this field. Excavator cabin design has undergone change due to the new guidelines in ISO / IS / DGMS. The main focus is given to operator safety, comfort and to reduce fatigue during the long hours of operation in very harsh working conditions. The Air-conditioner, Operator fatigue monitoring system, Rearview camera, Noise and vibration reduction at operator console are few examples of the same. While incorporating the above improvements the additional requirement of sensors is taken care of.”

According to Sandeep Mathur, Brand Leader, Case India, “The construction equipment market in India has grown considerably in the last few years and continues to do so. The Budget 2021-22 has put a lot of focus on reviving the infrastructure sector. The government’s effort towards further enhancing the roads and highways projects to 7,400 new projects is a welcome step which will ensure a better year for the infrastructure sector as well as for the construction equipment industry. Additionally, the coal mining sector is also going through a major reform currently. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the government auctioned 41 coal blocks, with liberal terms and conditions, for commercial mining to ensure competition, transparency, participation of the private sector and ease of doing business.”

He further added, “Technological upgrades are a perennial part of CE industry and CASE has always been a technology first brand. Our machines come equipped with a multitude of smart features such as an eagle eye telematics system which helps in monitoring the performance, security, and efficiency of the machine in real-time.”

Deepak Shetty, CEO & Managing Director of JCB India Limited, said, “Urban development, rejuvenation of towns and cities, solid waste management, pipelines and trenching work are among the many sectors which are set to grow. These will have to be executed in space-constricted urban/semi-urban areas, and this is where Mini Excavators will find great utility. As cities and towns expand, the compact design of the machine makes it useful in trenching, cable laying, power, irrigation, and housing. The concept of Mini Excavators is gradually gaining momentum as customers are today seeing value in the product.”

He added, “JCB India has pioneered the integration of digital technology in its range of machines through advanced Telematics called ‘LiveLink’. These machines work in off-road and often remote locations and LiveLink helps in remote monitoring and fleet management on key parameters of Service, Operations and Security of equipment.  This technology today helps over 1,80,000 JCB machines communicate in real-time on machine location, operations, performance, downtime, service alerts and security. It enables better site management and equipment utilisation, thereby improving operational efficiency and cost-saving.”

Commenting on the advancement in technology in excavators, Vivek Hajela, Vice-President & Head- Construction Equipment Business, L&T, said, “Advancements in attachments, coupling technologies have made excavators most versatile, suitable for undertaking a variety of jobs.  Some of the popular attachments on excavators include rock breakers, quick couplers, clamshell buckets, orange peel grapple, slope compactors, bucket crushers, super long front, tunnel attachments, screening buckets, pile drivers, electromagnets, scrap sheer, concrete cutters, rotary cutters, vibratory rippers, trench cutters, trimmers etc. On Komatsu excavators, we offer all these attachments, which have helped us address requirements of a wide section of customers and applications.”

With Komtrax, all Komatsu excavators are connected and enable tracking of performance and remote monitoring.  “We have launched a digitally-enabled after sales support program named ‘Equip-Care’ which seamlessly integrates machine-initiated service requirements such as scheduled services based on SMR, caution / error code-based service requests and service requests from customers,” he said.

Elaborating on the demand trends and growth drivers for excavators of different capacities, Rahul Shorey, Head Sales (Construction), Tata Hitachi, said, “Despite the Covid19 effect, last year the excavator market grew by around 8% on the back of sustained Capex in infrastructure by the government. In the Union budget presented in February this year, the government reiterated the focus on investment in infrastructure by enhancing Capex to 5.54Lakh Crores, signifying year-on-year increase of nearly 26% YoY. State governments have announced a similar increase in Capex for this fiscal. In addition, we also seen the way the market moved last year through the pandemic. Hence, even in the face of the current second Covid19 wave, we are optimistic that the trend will continue. We therefore expect the market to grow by nearly 20% – this will also be buoyed by the low base of H1 of last year.” 

Hydraulic excavators are increasingly being used for applications that expand its capabilities beyond just use of buckets for digging and loading. “There are a wide range of attachments that can be put in place of the bucket on the arm, on the boom in place of the arm, as well as on the main frame directly in place of the standard boom, arm and bucket. While the attachments on the mainframe and boom are more or less permanent fixtures, the attachments fixed on the arm end can and are being interchanged at will based on the work requirements.”

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