Digitalising the CE Industry

DEBNIL CHAKRAVARTY, Chief Business Officer, iQuippo, shares how the company aims to bring construction and mining equipment services within the reach of a click. While technology has been disrupting the way most of the businesses operate, the construction and mining sector has been quietly going on with its traditional way of conducting business. This is about to change - iQuippo, a Kolkata-based start-up, aims to revolutionise the construction and mining equipment industry by bringing its services within the reach of a click. One-stop shop Launched in October 2016, iQuippo is an online platform for buying, selling, renting heavy equipment and allied services. Following an open marketplace model, iQuippo allows users to register and list their assets and services to end-users across India. In addition to buying and selling of equipment, users can also purchase genuine spare parts and avail services like asset valuation and certification, financing and insurance, parking and yard management, manpower, logistics and equipment servicing û thereby making it a one-stop shop for all equipment related needs and resulting in substantial time and cost savings for the users. Digitalising the life-cycle A key issue in the sector is its highly fragmented nature and information asymmetry. This means most transactions happening in the used equipment space are in a localised manner and without any means to ascertain fair market price of the asset. iQuippo aims to solve this by digitalising the entire life-cycle of construction and mining equipment, and bringing information on asset availability, and valuation within the reach of end-users. Furthering the cause of 'Digital India', iQuippo provides a nation-wide audience to buyers and sellers, thereby fetching the best possible price for assets and services. Also, construction equipment owners in India have traditionally seen low machinery utilisation rates - primarily due to low rental penetration. iQuippo makes renting and sale of equipment easy and hassle-free for both the parties. iQuippo aims to increase the utilisation rates of machinery across the board, thereby reducing the payback period for all stakeholders. A research conducted by iQuippo team suggests that almost 90 per cent of the transactions in the used equipment space did not have adequate paperwork and contained some proportion of un-accounted cash payment.' iQuippo will provide customised and legally-vetted sale contracts for all transactions carried out through the platform, thereby safeguarding the interests of both the parties. The platform also provides integrated valuation and certification services to ensure fair and transparent dealing. Developing skills iQuippo has developed a dedicated platform to promote skill development in the construction and infrastructure industry, and aid the process of recruitment and hiring of manpower. It is tying up with multiple operator training schools and will serve as an avenue for students to gain meaningful employment. Also, iQuippo has made skill development and manpower recruitment a strategic priority. Certified operators can register themselves and upload information on the platform. Future plans iQuippo aims at leveraging technology to usher in a new tomorrow for the very-grounded construction equipment industry. Within two weeks of its launch, the platform already had more than 1,000 assets listed for sale and rent; the number is set to touch 10,000 soon. Going forward, it plans to increase the number of offerings, including an e-auctioning platform. With its aim of generating value for all stakeholders, big or small, in the construction equipment industry - including manufacturers, dealers, corporates, end-users, operators and mechanics - iQuippo seems to have hit the spot with the construction and mining equipment industry. (Communication by the management of the company)