“Dumping of second hand equipment into the Indian market remains a concern. Currently there is no Government norms which restrict their entry or atleast filter the equipment coming in. We need norms in place which will allow only certified equipment to come in”, Amit Gossain, Associate Vice President Marketing, JCB India.

First of all we must congratulate you for JCB India’s recent achievement of producing and selling its 100,000th machine in India. How do you react to this landmark achievement?

Thank you for your good wishes. This is indeed a landmark achievement and we are the first manufacturer of construction equipment in India to reach 100,000-plus machines. It’s a testimony to JCB and its Dealer’s commitment and focus towards our customers. To mark this occasion we have taken the initiative and planted 100,000 trees to green the environment. JCB in India also launched its new livery from 18th August onwards, when we celebrated this landmark. We have always given a lot of importance to aesthetics and our machines now have even better aesthetic appeal.

JCB is a name to reckon in the earthmoving and construction equipment segment. Please enlighten our readers about the journey of JCB in India from its inception to where it stands today.

JCB first came in India in 1979 with its first plant at Ballabgarh, Haryana. The enthralling journey that began in 1979 has been unprecedented and we have grown along with India. We are happy to be associated with building the nation and will continue our commitment towards bring in better and newer technology in India, making the best even better. We now have two plants in Pune as well where we manufacture the world class JCB heavy line range of machines as well as components. Believe it or not, our first machine sold in 1980 is still earning livelihood for its owner.

What is your opinion about the recent performance of earthmoving and construction equipment industry in India?

The earthmoving and construction equipment industry has bounced back quite convincingly from the slowdown during the global downturn. The emphatic performance of the industry in the first half of calendar 2010 leads us to believe that infrastructure growth of the country remains a top priority for the Government. With tighter deadlines and quality parameters the importance of specialized and reliable

equipment is constantly on the rise and this augurs well for us with our widest range of earthmoving and construction machines. We are a one stop solution for every construction equipment need.

What is your position in this industry? What are the total market size and your market share?

In JCB, We remain the market leaders in backhoe loaders with 75% market share. Our new launches beefing up our backhoe loader range are the 3DX Super with 92 hp JCB engine and 3DX Xtra with 84 hp JCB engine. Across the segment we enjoy over 50% market share and out of every two construction equipment sold, one is a JCB.

Which is that one core segment where you see huge potential for your business?

Today there is focus across all sectors like roads, ports, urban development, rural development, irrigation etc. Wholesome development of the nation will only happen if the progress is spread across all domains, and that is what the Government is working towards. We see huge potential for our business across all these sectors with our wide range of equipment as well as attachments which add a lot of versatility to the machines.

So, what’s next?

We are looking forward to a good period of growth. With state of the art, world class tracked excavators, wheeled loaders and compaction equipment we are very well placed to take advantage of the India growth story. We invested during the recession, upgraded our facility at Ballabgarh and Pune and now is the time to leverage this capacity expansion.

Do you see any barriers for the industry? If yes, what action to be taken or you are taking to overcome?

Dumping of second hand equipment into the Indian market remains a concern. Currently there is no Government norms which restrict their entry or atleast filter the equipment coming in. We need norms in place which will allow only certified equipment to come in. JCB is taking this up with the concerned authorities. Further there is the shortage of skilled operators which results in less productivity. We run 13 Operator Training Schools across the country in partnership with our dealers and over 5 in partnership with ITIs in Punjab which have resulted in over 15000 trained operators till date.