Building Construction Machinery Industry to Aid ‘Make In India’ Campaign

‘Make in India’ has opened up massive opportunities for construction machinery and equipment industry in the country. Let’s take a look…

‘Make in India’ is an initiative of the Government of India to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014. The main objective of this campaign is to make the country a manufacturing hub for domestic as well as foreign companies. This campaign also focusses on 25 major sectors of the economy of which construction sector is also a part.

In fact, the Smart City initiative aiming to upgrade and build 100 cities stressing urban mobility, low-cost housing and sanitation and sewerage in particular is also a part of this campaign. This has opened up massive opportunities for building construction equipment and machinery industry in the country.

Current Market Scenario
Indian construction industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy as it stimulates infrastructure-building and create growth opportunities for other industries in the economy. In fact, it is the second largest industry in India after agriculture.

Construction activities contribute to more than 8 per cent of India’s GDP. In fact, the Indian construction industry is valued at over USD 126 billion. Today, 50 per cent of the demand for construction activity in India comes from the infrastructure sector; the rest comes from industrial activities, residential and commercial development etc.

All this has brought about a massive change in the building construction equipment and machinery industry. Until recently construction activities in India used traditional methods which were slow and archaic. Now, gearing up to the new realities of timely project execution and provide a boost ‘Make in India’ campaign, there is an increasing need for modernised and mechanised methods of construction to ensure timely delivery of projects. Further, these days, much importance is given to quality of construction as well. Hence, there is an increased demand for building construction machinery. These range from off-highway vehicles to lifting equipment like cranes, hoists etc., to material handling equipment like backhoe loaders to batching plants, road equipment like compact vibratory rollers, pavers, asphalting machines etc.

Going further, earth moving equipment is the biggest segment value wise within the construction equipment segment and the single biggest share therein is of backhoe loaders followed by excavators, wheeled loaders, skid steer loaders, dumpers-tippers etc.

Future Trends
Keeping in mind the facts that present levels of urban infrastructure are inadequate to meet the demands of the existing urban population, there is need for re-generation of urban areas in existing cities and the creation of new, inclusive smart cities to meet the demands of increasing population and migration from rural to urban areas. This has directly impacted the growth of construction as well as construction equipment sector. To add fuel to it, ‘Make in India’ campaign has also started gaining ground in India and is positively impacting this segment. Thus, the Indian construction equipment market is set to expand by seven times between 2012 and 2020 to over $22 billion.