The new manufacturing plant of Schwing Stetter India coming up in Cheyyar near Chennai will be ready by January 2021, according to a top official of the company. The new facility is being constructed in 52 acres with a total investment of Rs 3 billion. “There are multiple sheds for different products and functions. The new premise will also have the corporate building to accommodate our offices and a small test track for testing the machines. The facility is expected to be ready in next two months as we plan to start the production from the new facility from January 2021,” said VG Sakthikumar, Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India. The new factory will be manufacturing self-loading concrete mixers, concrete boom pumps and concrete trailer pumps from the Schwing range of products. The new facility is being set up in line with the global standards to meet the export market requirements. According to Sakthikumar, the company will also start manufacturing hydraulic excavators from the new facility. “Initially, we will be assembling the equipment and going forward, we will manufacture the complete machine here, with aggregates, engines and everything from India,” he added. Schwing Stetter India launched the XCMG range of excavators in India at Excon last year and did some sales there. “In January 2020 till date, we have delivered more than 160 machines and we hope to close this year’s sales with more than 250 units of excavators.” The company is also aiming to have a pan-India presence in excavator sales from January 2021. “Currently, our excavator business is focused in south India only. We plan to enter new markets in Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and North-East states in the next phase and by January we will have presence pan-India for hydraulic excavators,” Sakthikumar revealed. Schwing Stetter India is also focusing on increasing the export market in the coming years. Currently the company’s export market share is around 10 per cent of the total business. The company exports to SAARC, ASEAN and sub-Saharan African countries, which are the traditional export markets. “We will be relocating some of the productions from Germany to the new facility. Schwing Stetter Germany used to supply the products to the Middle East. Now the Middle East will start sourcing from India,” Sakthikumar added. As the company is all set to start production from the new facility starting 2021, Sakthikumar is confident on the post-Covid market conditions. According to him, the market is stabilising and from 2021, the construction industry is expected to see a tremendous growth.