Dheeraj Panda, Director – Sales, Marketing and Customer Support, Sany Heavy Industry India, speaks on the present size and growth rate of the hydraulic excavators market in India, and how market has evolved in the last couple of years. What is the present size and growth rate of the hydraulic excavators market in India? How has the market evolved in the last couple of years? According to the Off-highway Research, the sale forecast for crawler excavators from 2019-2024 is 24 per cent whereas the mini excavator market is expected to grow by 39 per cent during the given duration. Over the last couple of years, the hydraulic excavator market has picked up a pace with the growing urbanisation and infrastructural activities in the country. The government focused on the national infrastructure pipeline and the increasing number of large scale mining-related projects and road construction is also further boosting the market. What are the various product offerings from your company in this segment? Sany India has a wide portfolio of hydraulic excavators with capacities ranging from 2-tonne to 80 tonne for diverse applications such as earthwork, road projects, irrigation, quarrying and mining, etc. Sany’s latest range of hydraulic excavators SY80C-9 comes equipped with the powerful Kubota engine. It can be employed for a variety of applications specially in Brick fields & Fisheries. Whereas SY140 tunnel machine is the ideal choice for tunnel applications. Our hydraulic excavators are designed to deliver better productivity and fuel economy and are extremely reliable as their robust structure ensures that it can work in any arduous conditions. Our hydraulic excavator features include advanced hydraulic systems synchronized with the engine and reliable components. Its intelligent DOMCS system determines engine output power as per the external load demand, facilitating optimum control of the excavator’s external load operating system. Multiple working modes are designed to match engine & pump speed and system pressure, as per the application to provide versatility to the machine. In light of the plans of infrastructure creation and reforms in mining, what opportunities do you foresee for hydraulic excavators? The demand for hydraulic excavators is on surge due to infrastructure development and mining reforms in the country. Considering the prevailing situation, Sany India envisages unprecedented growth and ample of business opportunities for hydraulic excavators amidst stiff competition and uncertainties. What are the major changes taking place in terms of technology? What are the key market opportunities? With the competition is set to increase due to ongoing infrastructure developments in the country, the manufacturers are also enhancing their products with technological advances. The new hydraulic excavators are designed to consume less fuel to further reduce CO2 emission and running cost. Adopting smart technology in excavator like electric sensors, telematics and modified mechanism has ensured the safety at site. Manufacturers are now leveraging digital technology by integrating Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT) in their products and services. With the arrival of hydraulic-powered attachments such as a breaker, a grapple, or an auger, now it can be frequently used in many applications other than excavation. The government's several initiatives like auctioning of coal mines on a large scale, Aatmanirbhar Bharat call and restart of governmental flagship programmes like smart cities, Housing for All, Make in India and Atal Mission will play a key role in demand-supply and certainly will lift up the excavators market in 2021! The government is also spending increasingly in construction activities under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA), which will undeniably add a pace in demand-supply of construction equipment. What are the major challenges faced in this segment? How do you plan to overcome those? Building future sales and retaining existing buyers amidst the escalating competition is very challenging for the manufactures in the Indian market. Besides that, the fluctuating economic scenario owing to the pandemic, slow clearance procedure, demand-supply gap , and liquidity are hindering the growth of the construction equipment market in India. Since, the demand for a hydraulic excavator is witnessing steady growth; we are focusing on digitization and automation to improve machine efficiency and productivity. The company has also taken a slew of measures to help its partners sail through the pandemic and made a strategic partnership with NBFCs. How do you look at the future market for hydraulic excavators in India? After facing the headwind last year, the future seems to be very bright with rising urbanisation, industrialisation, construction, and mining activities across India. It is expected that hydraulic excavators will achieve exponential growth during the forecast period of 2021-25. As hydraulic excavators come across as heavy equipment used in the construction and mining industry-its distinctive mechanism and compactness are some factors playing a key role in the growth of hydraulic excavator market. As a manufacturer, we look at the hydraulic excavator’s future as a great opportunity and quite optimistic that Sany India will lead the segment with its robust hydraulic excavators in the market.