- Sachin Nijhawan, VVice President and Business Head, Mahindra Construction Equipment
Investment in infrastructure, utilities, ports, roads and highways are the main growth drivers for the construction equipment industry. The increased spend on infrastructure will drive the growth in construction equipment sales. ´This trend is already evident as the Indian construction equipment market has been on a strong recovery track after an ebb of four years and is slated to increase by 50 per cent to around 75,000 units by 2019,´ says Sachin Nijhawan, Vice President and Business Head, Mahindra Construction Equipment, as he shares more on the market and the company´s offerings.
Tell us about the company's key products along with its USP. Mahindra Construction Equipment offers the choice to breakfree from the limitations of old technology. Backed by the engineering capabilities, manufacturing strength, distribution reach and after-sales service, the Mahindra EarthMaster, a backhoe loader, is available in the market in different variants namely VX, SX, SX 4WD, SX 4WD 6in1 bucket and LX. Always striving to give the best to our customers, we launched our backhoe loaders after four years of research and over 20,000 hours of machine testing, which offers best-in-class fuel efficiency (4.5* litres per hour). In fact, our foray into the construction equipment industry with Mahindra EarthMaster had many firsts. We were the leader in providing telematics for remote care and joystick for ease of operation in the traditional backhoe loader segment. With the launch of the new telematics system, DigiSense by Mahindra group, our equipment will soon be loaded with advanced technology to track performance on real-time. Further, with better technology and design enhancements, our equipment is able to lower lubricant refilling requirement with extended service intervals, thus reducing the overall maintenance cost and improving total cost of ownership.
What is the emphasis laid on R&D for buyer preference? Mahindra and Mahindra´s strong R&D department of over 2,000 engineers, and its decades of experience in engineering products that last long and provide great value, has made us attain a feat of developing a truly Made in India backhoe loader without any overseas collaboration. Our engineers have studied all the applications of construction machinery in the country and designed the Mahindra EarthMaster to meet the toughest duty needs of Indian contractors. This has been duly backed not only by state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and processes, but also the rigorous testing schedule.
Any plans to expand in the earthmoving category? We has always strived to give the best to our customers as one of the prominent players in the segment. We believe in providing disruptive products and services, which would not only be category creating but enable our customers to breakfree from traditional equipment. To capitalise on the India growth story, we will soon be introducing a slew of innovative products not only in the earthmoving category but in other segments as well.
Which are the global markets you may look at in the near future? We have a comprehensive plan to target selected geographies of the world, which have a synergy with us. Mahindra Construction Equipment is already present in SAARC nations. We have also expanded our reach in the African and Middle eastern countries.