On STEADY GROWTH

India is seeing tremendous growth in development activities in infrastructure. The new projects coming up under various government schemes have driven the demand for construction aggregates. The aggregate demand is expected to grow in the coming years due to the large scale infrastructure development planned especially in the roads & highways, transportation and real estate segments. In mining, coal and iron ore mining are seeing growth in the recent past after the policy revival. These are going to drive the demand for crushers and screens of different capacities.  

Growing needs for aggregates

Construction activities are gaining momentum with the market reviving after the Covid pandemic receding in India. As India continues to tread on the infrastructure development path, the demand for aggregates is expected to increase exponentially over the next few years as they serve as reinforcement to add strength to the overall composite material. While roads and highways sector is the major demand driver, other infra segments such as railways, bridges, ports and airports, and real estate are also attracting demand for aggregates. The major construction aggregate types used are sand, crushed stone, and gravel. This creates a lot of opportunities for quarry operations for which different types of crushers and screens will play major role.

Crushers & Screens: Demand drivers

Crushers are widely used as a primary stage to produce the particulate product finer than about 50-100 mm in size. They are classified as jaw, gyratory and cone crushers based on compression, cutter mill based on shear and hammer crusher based on impact. Customer use mobile and stationary types of crushers and screens depending upon the kind of jobs and jobsites. Mobile plants come as tracked and wheeled. Tracked plants are used in aggregates production, recycling applications, and in mining operations.

“Due to the new road projects being rolled out, there was an increase in demand for construction and road building equipment and with these, the demand for aggregates is also  increasing where greenfield projects and expansion from 2 to 4-laning and 4 to 6-laning is being taken up. This has boosted the demand for crushing and screening units,” says Ramesh Palagiri, MD & CEO, Wirtgen India.

India is one of the world's top aggregate users and is regarded as the global construction industry's epicentre. The need for crushers and screens is steadily increasing as a result of the upcoming construction and infrastructure development projects such as roads, dams, and railways. The crushing and screening equipment segment is estimated to register the highest CAGR of 5.7% by 2030.

Sharad Thussu, Head - Mining & Construction Equipment Division, Voltas, says, “Track-mounted crushing and screening plants are increasingly finding precedence with road contractors, who dominate the market, owing to a range of advantages, such as instant off-the-shelf deployment, mobility and superior quality of aggregates produced.”

M-Sand push

The production of M-Sand is in an upward trend with investments in Roadways, Railways, Metros and Smart Cities and mega infrastructure projects like Bharatmala. M-sand production is evolving in the country with many states banning the river sand mining. M-sand is produced by the crushing of rocks. Coarse hard rock deposits are crushed in crushers and the crushed material is segregated in different fractions. The sand obtained through this process is further refined by removing fine particles and impurities through sieving and washing.

C&D waste recycling

Recycling and reusing of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is still in its nascent stage in India as the country recycles just one per cent of its C&D waste. The country generates an estimated 150 million tonnes of C&D waste every year, according to the Building Material Promotion Council. But the official recycling capacity is a meagre 6,500 tonnes per day, which makes just about one per cent. Hence, there is a big opportunity for crushing and screening solutions for processing C&D materials into smaller, recyclable products. As the natural resources of aggregates depleting and there are stringent environment related restrictions of mining aggregates, recycling and reusing C&D waste is a viable option. As the country is moving fast towards creation of new infrastructure and modernizing old structures with new improved ones, demolition activities are growing in the country. With the help of suitable crushing and screening solutions, these C&D wastes can be recycled and reused for new projects.

Mining revival

India is the world's second-largest coal producer as of 2021 and the world's second-largest crude steel producer, as of 2020, according to IBEF report. The relaxation in mining policy and permission for 100 per cent FDI in coal mining has set the growth path for Indian mining sector. Privatisation of commercial coal mining will also see many progressive developments in the mining sector with public sector miners roping in with private MDOs for mining operations. This has pushed the prospects of mining equipment. Going forward, crushing and screening equipment players will gain from this demand trend.

“Crushing and screening market for track equipment has shown a growth due to the demand in the mining market. Also, new applications such as biomining have been a demand driver for this market,” says Palagiri.

Larger plants to make inroads

The Budget 2022 presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has focused primarily on the infrastructure development of the country. The Budget proposals include development of more roads and highways, railway network, and constructing residential structures under PMAY. The recently announced programmes such as PM Gati Shakti and the National Infrastructure Pipeline will push the demand for more construction activities in the coming years. This will scale up the demand for plants and equipment including crushers and screens. Basically there are many large-scale projects coming up where large capacity plants will play bigger role. While focusing on the infrastructure development in the country, the government will also need to focus on the progress of the construction equipment sector with policy support. 

“Government should focus more on the production output and should link it with bonus and performance clause which will give a good boost to crushing and screening industry in these segments,” points out Palagiri.

The overall crushing and screening equipment market is bullish on the construction and mining market scenario in the country. As the projects are growing bigger in scale, the future trend would be towards larger capacity plants.

Hits: 0