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How do you see the future Excavator market in India in the coming years?

The long-term future trend for the excavator industry remains positive and demand is expected to grow with a CAGR of 16 percent during 2021-2023 and reach 28,000 units, as per Off-Highway Research report. Excavators account for a bulk of revenue in the CE segment and with the government focus on infrastructure development to fuel economic growth, the demand of hydraulic excavators is expected to increase significantly.

The construction equipment market in India has grown considerably in the last few years and even this year ICRA has predicted the industry to grow by 15-20 per cent despite 39 per cent decline in H1 CY2020 due to Covid-19.

The Budget 2021-22 has also put a lot of focus on reviving the infrastructure sector and post second wave of pandemic the government is planning to announce additional measures to support the infrastructure development related spending. These investments will have cascading effect on the CE industry performance including that of excavators.

Additionally, the coal mining sector is also going through a major reform. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the government auctioned 41 coal blocks, with liberal terms and conditions, for commercial mining to ensure competition, transparency, participation of the private sector and ease of doing business.

Therefore, with the various government initiatives and policies, rising urbanization, emergence of smart cities, overall expected growth in infrastructure and construction sector the market size for excavators is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

Kindly let us know about your Excavator range and the features you offer?

CASE India launched its first excavator CX220C in 2020, after showcasing the same at the biggest construction equipment event in Asia - Excon 2019. CASE Construction Equipment's Crawler Excavator CX220C is specially designed for tough applications. This machine has been built for the Indian terrain and delivers maximum productivity, lower fuel costs and faster cycle times. A few salient features of the CX220C are: 

High Efficiency

The operating weight of CX220C excavator is 22 tons and it is equipped with the fuel efficient FPT 6-cylinder electronically controlled engine. It develops a gross power of 117 KW (157 hp) and peak torque of 622 Nm at 1800rpm. This world-renowned FPT engine is designed to boost machine performance and optimize fuel economy.

Precision and Controllability

The machine is highly suitable for stone quarry, road works, general construction, and earthwork. The proven CASE Intelligent Hydraulic System (CIHS) provides remarkable machine control with unmatched energy and fuel savings in all cycle time phases.

Reliability and Strength

Robust design with increased plate thickness on structures and attachments improves the durability of the excavator. The Boom and arm plate thickness has been increased by 33% and features Heavy Duty brackets and reduced tolerances which increases component life, thus minimizing downtime. Another plus is easy maintenance from the ground level for user comfort and faster service times. 

Power and Versatility

The Excavator is an impeccable machine for every application, it comes with three available power modes and 10 auxiliary hydraulic settings. The power modes are:

•   AUTO: for normal digging, grading, lifting and precision work. Power Boost always engaged.

•   HEAVY: for heavy operations, always granting the best balance between productivity and fuel economy. Power Boost automatically engaged.

•   SUPER POWER: extra speed and power for the most demanding jobs that require maximum productivity. Power Boost automatically engaged.

Fast cycles and Operator comfort

The advanced hydraulic system offers higher breakout forces, improved swing speeds and greater swing torque, resulting in faster cycle times and 5% increase in productivity. Power boost function is automatically engaged

Last but not the least, the CX 220C is equipped with renowned Telematics system for real time updates to ensure safety and optimum productivity.

How has the Coronavirus affected your company's performance in the past one year?

The pandemic induced lockdown has caused some sluggishness across the economy. As a result, the infrastructure and construction equipment business was also largely impacted resulting in an overall decline in the industry by 39 per cent in H1 CY2020.

At CASE, we also faced the effect of the pandemic and multiple lockdowns and went through several bottlenecks initially which affected our performance. However, we have always believed in being agile and adaptive and our teams immediately started acclimatizing to the new normal and creating new ways of working during the pandemic. New protocols were established for our offices, plant and the warehouse while keeping social distancing and other safety requirements in mind. We understood the gravity of the situation and many steps were taken well in time so that the safety of employees is not compromised with and at the same time work continues without any hindrance. Post-lockdown the Indian construction sector witnessed a new wave of Industry 4.0, where OEMs and CE industry started including technologies in their usual processes to speed up and make up for the lost time during the lockdown. As a result, we drafted new protocols and policies for all aspects of our business to ensure safety as well as productivity and efficiency.

Moreover, several government initiatives to spur economic activities have also instilled confidence in construction equipment sector which is expected to showcase a growth rate of 15-20 percent in the FY 2021-22 (as per ICRA). We expect this growth to reflect in our business performance as well.

Keeping in mind the various initiatives adopted by CASE as a company and policy level changes/introductions by the government, we are hopeful that the market will revive soon and move towards an upward graph.

What strategy has your company adopted to reach out to your customers during this period?

At CASE, we continued engagement with our employees as well as consumers using multiple digital platforms since the beginning of the pandemic. At the same time, we also worked to create new avenues to further this interaction.

With the help of social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, we focused on keeping our consumers constantly engaged, informed, and motivated during these testing times. We also started the circulation of our digital newsletter to further keep our stakeholders abreast of all the industry updates as well as the current activities in the company and continue to converse with them on a regular basis.

Further, to ease the situation for our valuable customers, we introduced multiple financial offerings which helped and reduced their financial burden during these difficult times.

Through CNH Capital, our financial arm, we are making sure there is enough capital available for customers who wish to make purchases. We also continue to release relevant schemes which can facilitate easy product purchase.

We have always gone the extra mile for our customers and even during these challenging times we are delivering parts and scheduling services keeping all the safety precautions in mind. For several customers who could not reach out to service-centers for periodic service due to lock-down or movement restriction imposed by authorities, we extended the warranty period for 60 days. The extension of warranty is supported by an increase in warranty claim submission time, late repair time and policy claim requests over a period from 30 days to 90 days. The brand's warranty helpdesk is fully operational to support customers with their queries.

With the help of Sitewatch application, CASE after-market team is working to ensure that timely action can be taken in case of any potential disruption to working. We have also ensured our dealers are up to date with the latest product training and schemes.

At CASE, we believe in growing with our customers and will continue to do so.