“Our sector is ready to meet the challenge and play our part in rebuilding the country”

As the unexpected calamity of COVID has hit all the politics and markets of the world, we would like to know your expert views on the current market status and the way you are planning to combat the current pandemic scenario?

It is an unfortunate event! The COVID-19 calamity has caused huge negative impact in India and rest of the world. As the world politics and markets grapples with the pandemic, world leaders are continuedly implementing the policies to safeguard its economy and nations.

As far as Indian construction and infrastructure market is concern; construction projects worth more than Rs 59 lakh crore which are under development across the nation and most of them have been impacted severely by COVID-19. With this, Indian Construction Equipment market is affected and the entire industry is facing challenges like logistics, supply chain, labors and manpower, operators and services.

Since lately the government has relaxed the lockdown in some areas where COVID has not affected much, there is hope for the economy to move upwards. Of Couse, the work should be done keeping Safety at the high priority!

For Zoomlion India, safety comes first! Be it the safety of our employees, customers and Zoomlion machinery & equipment. We are taking all the possible measures to deal with the situation and at the same time we are well connected with our customer and serving them at the best way possible, online and offline.

It is said that the present economic condition is of a ‘V’ shape where the economic slope goes down immediately due to unavoidable situation and emerges as soon as the problem vanishes because the workforce returns to the job and the situation comes back to normal in just a few months. How far do you think that this concept will prove to be fair and workable for the Indian infrastructure and construction market and to your business ambitions?

There is no doubt that economy slope is going downtrend and coming few months are going to crucial to decide the economic growth for rest of the coming year.

Post lockdown labor and capital can be expected to be in short supply. There is need for a framework in place to prioritize projects over a 30 to 45 days window. In a time-bound manner, project owners must chalk out a plan to minimize the impact of COVID-19 and ensure viability and sustenance of projects going forward in a changed environment.

The Indian construction industry employs around 12 per cent of the nation’s working population. Besides the current scenario, when monsoon sets by June in most parts of the country, infrastructure and construction market will have a business impact. Indian infrastructure and construction market would need some time to revive to pre-crisis levels.

Is there is any new plan or strategy which you are planning for remaining competitive in the coming months and how do you forecast your business dealings after the market emerges to again run on the track of moving on and gaining some momentum? 

Zoomlion India has introduced few initiatives, virtual trainings to the customers to understand the products and machine services thoroughly; and our workforce is constantly in touch with our customer to understand and resolve the issues even during the lockdown period.

We are upgrading our workforce by creating a flexible and responsive team to combat such situations in future. We are also working aggressively on redesigning the supply chain and deployment of new technologies to serve our customers and strengthening our relationship in such difficult times.

What are your current or forthcoming projects which you are working on and how are you managing the execution of them in a positive and practical manner? 

We are setting up new factory at Pune, Maharashtra which is currently declared as red zone COVIC 19 affected area. Hence, we are following all the notification and guidelines issued by the government of India and have slow down our work on the project.

Our project workforce is engaged in many other projects and working from home and utilizing this time to upgrade the knowledge by virtual trainings, which will help to be better equipped and to be more productive after the lockdown is over.

When it comes to being one of the market leaders, how are you researching on management’s organization and keeping yourself motivated during the COVID phase?

As a responsible company, Zoomlion India’s Management has taken up most measures to create a safe environment for our employees. Keeping in mind the safety of our employees we have adopted Work from Home (WFH) policy and maximum of our staff are working from home. All the departments are in contact on regular basis to share the updates and plans.

What expectations you have from the government’s plans and reforms to uplift and improve the overall condition of the Indian infrastructure and construction market?

I think Indian Central government has taken some stern decision to ease the pain of construction equipment companies by brining into non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for loan funding and loan repayment, etc which will help the overall Indian Infrastructure and construction industry to overcome with lockdown purge. Also, the gradual lifting of lockdown in less affected areas will help the sector in managing the supply chain, logistics, operator and labor issues which the industry is currently facing.

Is there is something you would like to share with your audience at large, as in discussing your trade principals and motives? 

One of the advantages that Zoomlion India has is that currently we have our manufacturing units outside India so there are no manufacturing hurdles we are facing as our manufacturing units are working at its high capacity and delivering machinery worldwide. On the other hand, there is only a temporary issue which we are facing due to logistic and supply chain which is been resolving by the government policies now. Also, we have resumed our services in the areas where lockdown has been lifted.

I would like to reiterate that this is the time to inculcate a health and safety mindset. The delivery of any projects safely can never be taken granted, especially during COVID 19. We need to see the approach to onsite safety is on the highest standard.

With health and safety in mind, I am confident that our sector is ready to meet the challenge and play our part in rebuilding the country.