—Abhijit Gupta, Managing Director, Case New Holland Construction Equipment (I) Pvt. Ltd. (Case India)
CASE has just celebrated its 25th year in India. How would define your journey in India?
With a global experience of excellent quality products for over 172 years, CASE Construction is still young in India.
Being present in India for 25 years now, we were earlier a technology partner of an Indian company for 10 years followed by a JV partner for another 12 years and eventually as a wholly owned subsidiary of CNH Industrial group, which is spread across 190 countries with 62 manufacturing plants, 48 research and development centres and 71,000 strong workforce.
With worldwide investment in Research & Development of around Rs.7,000 crore in 2014, CASE has shown a similar commitment to its India operations as well. The company continues to invest heavily in Indian products for the past four years showcasing results like the EX series on Loader Backhoe and the DX series on the Compactors that have been exceptionally well received by our customers. We continue to remain at a leading position the vibratory compactor segment for the last 25 years while consistently maintaining a top tier position in the loader backhoe segment.
CASE India also operates a manufacturing plant in Pithampur, which applies advanced manufacturing practices and qualified for ISO 9001:2000 quality standards and ISO 14000 environmental certification. Also, as a CNH Industrial group we also have interests in Indian agricultural equipment sector such as tractors, harvesters, etc. with two manufacturing plants at Greater Noida and Pune.
CASE India won “Best Seller Compaction Equipment” for several of years, consecutively. What makes CASE equipment so irresistible?
The country’s roads and bridges infrastructure, which was valued at $6.9 billion in 2009 is expected to touch $19.2 billion by 2017. With each segment in the road sector having potential to grow 20-plus per cent per year, we can expect the industry size to almost double in this period.
The Best Seller Compaction Equipment award is an acknowledgment of the hard work of the many dedicated and skilled CASE employees who have helped to position CASE as the market-leader in compactor range. It further reiterates our core philosophy of putting the customer first and high proficiency.
We introduced a new model of soil compactor, the 1107DX, to further strengthen our leadership position in the vibratory compactor segment. Additionally, we have advanced our 752 tandem compactor and introduced the world leading motor grader to provide an end-to-end solution for road construction for our Indian customers.
Adding to the ongoing product development, we have also enhanced the manufacturing processes to best suit the world class manufacturing standards through which we deliver the most robust, reliable and high quality products. We have strengthened our distribution with an extensive network of 70 dealers with nearly 300 touch points spanning the length and breadth of the country. With certain ambitious infrastructure projects getting kick-started, the CE industry looks all set to grow at a CAGR of nearly 17.4 per cent up to 2017, and we are ready to ride this growth wave.
You are one of the associate sponsors of EXCON 2015. How is EXCON helping the Indian construction equipment industry grow as well as overcome the challenges?
Infrastructure investments are among the main growth drivers of the construction equipment industry. With government focusing on initiating investment friendly policies, the construction industry is on the rise with a positive outlook. The construction equipment market is projected to grow to $7-8 billion by 2016-17 and $16-21 billion by 2020.
Excon helps industry leaders like Case India to display their products on a larger platform and address the issues within the industry. The exhibition will showcase a wide variety of equipment, technology products for Indian customers with specific emphasis on efficiency, productivity & safety. Additionally, construction equipment machineries that are required to fulfil the development of infrastructure, smart cities, irrigation and mechanisation of waste management will also be displayed at the exhibition.
What are your objectives behind participating in EXCON 2015?
Excon is one of the prestigious events in the CE industry of entire South Asia. The 2015 Excon edition is most anticipated as it marks the growth of Indian CE industry. Participation in Excon 2015 will reaffirm the confidence of all the major CE players and the associated companies in the Indian infrastructure space towards the long term growth story of India. In celebrating its successful run in India for the 25th year, CASE will be showcasing its entire gamut of products being currently offered in India.
What products are you going to showcase in the upcoming EXCON?
As mentioned above, we are showcasing our entire gamut of products in Excon. The showcase will include our award winning compaction range and entire product range of earthmoving equipments.