AFFORDABLE, UNCOMPROMISED, MECHANIZATION

1. Describe about the current market status in the road construction equipment sector of India; and tell us about your company details in brief.

“India is a developing country, and for any country to develop it is essential to have a strong transportation network. Roads are the backbone of a huge and geographically diverse nation like India and road construction equipment are the key contributors to building bigger and better roads. Road construction equipment are essential to building new, quality roads quickly and efficiently. Although our EarthMaster backhoe loaders have been used in Road Construction since long we formally entered into the road construction equipment segment in 2017 with our RoadMaster Motor Grader range. From 2017 to 2019 we have become the 2^nd biggest grader company in India in terms of Sales and the biggest manufacturer of motor graders in India. Our graders provide “Affordable, Uncompromised, Mechanization” of spreading and grading roads for Indian contractors at fractional cost of imported graders 

2. What are your latest product innovations? Tell us about their features in details.

We launched the RoadMaster G90 Comfort Plus motor grader this year which offers a HVAC cabin for our popular RoadMaster G90 model. The Comfort Plus has the same specifications as the standard G90 with a 91 HP Mahindra DiTEC engine and a 10 ft. blade. The product itself was giving optimal productivity but HVAC cabin with AC, suspended seat and other comfort features for operators will further add to increased productivity for the contractors due to increase in operator efficiency. Apart from this the product carries the Mahindra DNA of being simple, rugged, low maintenance and reliable machine

3. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown many challenges to operate business dealings smoothly all across the world. Therefore, in what way are you dealing to combat the challenges in your company and the market as a whole.

Recovery from the COVID scenario will be a long-term process however on a war footing basis we took necessary steps to ensure spare parts and service availability to our customers. The safety of our customers, suppliers as well as our team is of utmost importance to us and accordingly, we are slowly coming back to normalcy by incorporating robust safety measures at our supplier, supply chain and manufacturing to ensure higher productivity with safety. On the sales front, the business has been affected adversely but in the last 2 months there has been significant growth which is a good sign

4. Kindly comment on the reforms and plans which are put forward from the side of the government of India to develop the construction equipment industry.

The government’s decision to defer the BS IV implementation date from Oct.’20 to Apr.’21 is one move which the entire construction equipment industry sees as a much-needed step. Due to lockdowns since March the validation and durability confirmation of the BS IV products of most manufacturers would have been affected. The suppliers also have not been able to establish capacity/capability for BS IV parts. The stocks at manufacturers and dealers which is normally high in March as March end is a high consumption time would also not have been liquidated due to lockdown from mid-March which can now be easily liquidated. This is one step that has given the industry a huge relief in these uncertain times.

5. What are your business strategies to remain competitive for the period of 2020-2022, because this is a period which can be considered as a revival of the industry?

We at Mahindra believe in the philosophy of “Customer at the Centre” for everything we do. Accordingly, our products are “Made for India” and not just Made in India. Doing this has helped us to be where we are and we will continue the same. If the customer is happy with our products, services and the value we bring to them then we need not have to worry about being competitive.

6. What expectations you have from the government’s plans and reforms?

There are some reforms and plans which the government can implement which will surely aid the CE industry.

Preference to “Made in India” products over imported products can be one step that the govt. can implement which will result in,

1. Reduction in India’s trade deficit
2. Increase employment opportunities for Indians as these manufacturers would then want to manufacture in India
3. Make the product and spare parts cost effective for the contractors and ensure easy availability ensuring better productivity/profits for contractors

The other step that the government can take is to ensure that there are incentives on offer for investing the money/profits the multinational companies make from their businesses in India back into India which again will add to the increased investment into the nation