India ranked fourth in developing Asia for FDI inflows as per the World Investment Report 2016 by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development. That is endorsement at the highest levels – and real estate saw equity investment on a very visible return journey to India last year. Indian real estate has attracted US$ ~32 billion in private equity so far. The global capital flow into Indian real estate in 2016 stood at US$ ~5.7 billion.

Construction equipment recorded a 28 per cent increase in sales in 2016 while the earthmoving segment witnessed faster-paced growth as a result of expansion in certain infrastructure segments.

It is known - and recognised - that the Indian economy is one of the fastest growing in the world. However, for this growth to sustain, the infrastructure sector needs acceleration at a much faster pace. With this in mind, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 396,135 crore for the infrastructure sector in this year´s Budget, up 10 per cent from the previous year.

Rising urbanisation, increasing infrastructure development activities, growing industrialisation activities and large-scale investments in the power sector are the major factors that would drive the growth of package substation market in India.

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) has appointed Arjun Dhawan as the Whole Time Director & Group CEO wef April 1, 2017, as Rajgopal Nogja has decided to step down from the Group CEO’s post to pursue his own interests. Nogja shall continue in his present role till March 31, 2017. He will, however, continue to be a Delegate of the Board of Steiner AG, Switzerland, a HCC Group Company on a 20 per cent time commitment basis.

The global Internet of Things (IoT) market is primarily driven by the advancement in technology of electronic devices, according to research report “Global Internet of Things (IoT) Market Outlook 2023”.

Talk about an action-packed year! With RERA, GST, the Benami Act, FDI reforms, and more, there was never a dull moment in 2016. Adding to it all was the landmark day for India- November 8, 2016 - when demonetisation was announced.

In early 2016, it was expected that tower cranes and mobile cranes would grow disproportionately vis-a-vis other construction equipment, driven by increased investments in real-estate projects. Did this pan out? Well, demand for mobile cranes - accounting for 9 per cent of construction equipment, about 5,500 machines - is expected to touch 6,800 by 2020, growing at over 40 per cent. Growth is slower in other crane segments, tower, crawler, etc.

Data suggests that demonetisation has hit the pace of announcement of new investment proposals during the quarter-ended December 2016 The Union Budget has set the tone for 2017 by accelerating the growth agenda.