For JCB India, continued focus on integrating digital technology in construction equipment was the focus at bauma this year. The company introduced its new range of products with ‘intelli’gent technology. These include three excavators – the JCB140 Xtra, the JCB205 Xtra and the JCB215 Xtra with Intelli-control – and a wheeled loader: The JCB 432ZX Plus. Vipin Sondhi, Managing Director and CEO, shares more…

One pathbreaking offering: Currently, we are moving ahead with the digital space with what we call the IntelliSpace. And that, in the future, is going to be a major driver in terms of providing information to the operators, the owners, so better decisions can be taken by them with much more efficient machines.

Demand drivers in 2019: Roads and highways, and to some extent irrigation, will continue to drive demand.
Announcement contributing to the company’s growth in 2018: Definitely the fact that we have now got the widest range of excavators as well – 3 tonne to 38 tonne, with the 3 tonne being the smallest – in addition to all of them becoming intelligent.

Challenge for the company in 2019: It is going to be an interesting year because of the elections. 
The question is how we navigate ourselves successfully during this period.

Key strategy to success in 2019: Hard work, sense of urgency, basic fundamentals that our founder has laid. Our products are an outcome of what our customers in India want and that is what we provide.

Recommendation for growth of the construction equipment market: To any government, it would definitely be to continue the focus on infrastructure development because it is good economics; also, because it brings a lot of young people together in a positive way.