‘Reviewing Current COVID Scenario & Looking For Growth’

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?

This pandemic has been an unprecedented occurrence and is impacting economies and all sectors worldwide.  Reports from ICRA, KPMG and FICCI suggest there will be a further dip in the overall economy. The manufacturing sector has been affected largely due to the uncertainty of the situation. However, the government is trying to salvage the situation and discussions have commenced on re-opening some manufacturing sectors to attenuate the effect of the lockdown. We’re also preparing ourselves and charting out plans to restart effectively. It may be a slow recovery but it will be a full one nevertheless.

At CASE India, We have full time and part time employees who are partners in helping our vision come to life at our plants and offices. To efficiently combat the pandemic, we have increased our use of technology and online mediums to connect with our dealers throughout, for training purposes. We have conducted online training sessions and e-meetings to impart product specific knowledge. We continue to engage and be in constant touch with prospective customers. In order to compensate loss of time due to lockdown, we have given extensions on warranties and retail loans to our existing customers to take the pressure off them and further strengthen our relationship with them. CNH Capital, our financial arm is making sure there’s enough capital available for customers who wish to make purchases. To provide faster solutions to our customers we have come up with a 48 hour loan approval policy. We’re hoping that any liquidity crunch is alleviated through these efforts. These steps shall help minimizing the sluggishness when the markets open.  We have also extended the Work From Home period for our employees and we’ll re-open in phases to ensure their safety. In order to minimize the presence of the virus in the workplace and in CASE India plants we are doing a proper sanitization and including facilities which will ensure a safe working environment for our employees.

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.

Economists everywhere are debating about the recovery, its kind and the duration. While  some are hopeful of a V shaped recovery because of the ‘pent-up demand’, some believe its highly unlikely for us to bounce back rapidly and instead we may head into an economy-wide recession. We can say that due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, this is all speculation since we’ve never experienced something like this before. So, in a state of uncertainty we must take the next possible step, which is adapting and preparing ourselves. For the infrastructure and construction sector, the government had recently made some announcements which ensured that the sector will not slow down. We’re hopeful that this indicates some big investments in the near future which could prove vital to the overall recovery of the industry.

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?

As discussed earlier, we have undertaken a lot of measures to ensure the safety of our employees and to continue doing business.  And we’re confident that our customers, dealers, partners and employees will bounce back from this pandemic, ready to get work done. Case India has stood by them throughout this time and will walk shoulder to shoulder with them once the markets open up. We’ve boosted our capital availability, engaged with customers and understood their needs, we’ve ensured our dealers are up to date with the latest product training and we’ve given our existing customers extensions and waivers where necessary – all with a view to prepare for the future and hit the ground running after the lockdown is lifted.

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 constantly developing and integrating our products with newer technologies to deliver higher efficiency and better uptime of the machine. Currently, our focus is on increasing our presence in the Indian market with a complete portfolio. Keeping in line with that, we launched our first ever excavator CX 220 LC last year, at the biggest construction equipment event Excon 2019 and we continue to work on the same. . The 22-ton CHEX excavator is specially designed for the Indian terrain and delivers faster cycle times and higher productivity.

Since the pandemic calls for social distancing, the methods of planning and execution have also changed. Our use of technology has increased manifold. Our employees are working from home and we’re in constant touch with them. We’ve also made serious efforts to connect with our dealers online and to impart latest product knowledge via e-meetings. We’re in constant touch with prospective customers to understand their needs and for the existing customers, we’ve extended warranties and retail loans to ease their lives. As an important future measure, we’re also sanitizing our plants and offices to ensure safety and curtail any chances of contamination. Our financial arm, CNH Capital, has boosted the availability of capital for customers who wish to make any purchase. All this has been done to prepare ourselves and hit the ground running after the lockdown is lifted.

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 mentioned earlier, the current situation is unprecedented which has taken everybody around the world by surprise. At CASE India, our employees are our number one priority. And we’ve made serious efforts to ensure their safety or well-being isn’t compromised. We mandated work from home right from the start and since then we’ve been connected with our employees through multiple online channels. We regularly engage with them via emailers, motivational blogs etc. and also hold inspiring and informative webinars for them. Through this time, we’ve regularly updated them about the business, the effect of the pandemic on the company and our strategy to combat it as well. We believe the only way there is, is the way forward and we must work towards it together. We’re hopeful that we’ll ride out this pandemic soon.

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?

The government is doing its best to cover their bases and ride out of this pandemic in the best possible manner.  In order to revive the industry steps have been taken to increase the activities in the infrastructure sector. The government has also allowed construction activities in certain areas to ensure project completion in time. A report by NIP suggests that the new and upgrading infrastructure projects with Rs.111 trn of investment will be key to raising India’s competitiveness and making it a Rs. 5 trn economy by 2025. These are not exactly times where we should be demanding for more steps towards a particular sector / industry. The priority of the government is its citizens first and then the economy – so we’re happy with all steps taken so far and look forward to helping in every way possible to revive the construction industry.